


Beneath The Sea

by God_of_Insanity



Series: Dark Hearts: Of Men & Monsters [5]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Bottom Sephiroth, Chaos is a pirate ship, Father/Son Incest, Implied Bottom Vincent Valentine, Implied Past F/M Relationships, Implied Switching, Implied Top Sephiroth, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Sex, M/M, Male Slash, Minor Character Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sephiroth is a Siren, Some angst, Tags May Change, Top Vincent Valentine, Versatile aka Switch Lovers, Vincent is a Pirate, Violence, Yaoi, m/m - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-03-09 00:30:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13469892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/God_of_Insanity/pseuds/God_of_Insanity
Summary: Many years ago, a young pirate made a bargain with a siren to fulfill his hearts desire, or what he thought he desired most, only to end up an unhappy immortal lacking the one thing he truly desires most: love.





	1. The Bargain

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

A young, dark-haired man pushed open the tavern door and nearly stumbled outside into the cool night air. He gasped in relief upon feeling the fresh air cool his hot flesh and relieve his body of the pungent smells of smoke, booze, and soiled, unwashed bodies. Even though his gait was a bit uneven, he wasn’t exactly anywhere near as drunk as his captain and the rest of his fellow shipmates. He only liked to drink enough to give him a warm, pleasant buzz and that was about it. It had only taken him once to learn that drinking uncontrollably until he blacked out resulted in missing events, vomit everywhere, and a hangover that made him want to shoot himself in the head.

The young man strode casually, his steps unhurried as he traveled through the small town. Every home and business was locked and closed for the night save for the couple of taverns that made their money primarily from selling alcohol, sex, and rooms to travelers, sailors, and yes, even to pirates. The tavern owners didn’t care who frequented their establishments as long as nothing was damaged, including the male and female whores. Even a black eye on a prostitute could cause the taverns to lose money since most of their patrons preferred their bed partners to look pretty and unmarred. If the client wanted something violent, they were often redirected to the slummier part of town. It was the part of town he even avoided, despite his own less than honorable occupation.

Inhaling deeply, the youth walked with his eyes closed as his booted feet led him to the docks. As much as he had missed land and interacting with people again, he suddenly felt the longing to be alone in his own bunk. Most of his mates would be busy drinking the night away, fornicating, or both, which meant he would have a bit of privacy to himself for the night. He would be able to sleep in silence without the various snores of men and other distasteful, unwelcome sounds and smells. It was times like that when he sorely missed sleeping in his old home with his parents and siblings for company. It had been a small, plain house, but since he was the only male child, he had been allowed his own room and bed. Sometimes when he closed his eyes, he could recall his old life and almost hear the familiar sounds of his father carving something out of wood and his mother sweeping the wood shavings away while her husband studiously worked. He could also remember the sounds of his sisters playing outside, giggling loudly as they hurled clumps of mud at one another. Despite being girls, his sisters had all been rambunctious tomboys no matter how much their mother scolded them for their unladylike ways. As simple and normal as those moments had been back then, thinking about them often made his chest ache and his eyes moisten with unshed tears.

He missed his family, but…there was no going back now. What was done, was done. _This_ was his life now.

The dark-haired man suddenly halted the moment he realized that the ship was… _gone_. He could still hear his shipmates laughing raucously back at the tavern, and even at this distance, he could make out his Captain’s loud bark of laughter. Only a couple mates had been left with the ship and there was no way those two could sail and operate a ship by themselves. Which meant…others had come and commandeered the vessel while Captain Veld and his crew had been out drinking and sleeping with whores.

Glancing around wildly, the youth couldn’t make out the dark form of any ship anywhere, except for a few boats here and there. It was gone.

Before he could turn around and race back to the tavern, the young man heard the distinct splashing of something…large. Perhaps a dolphin? Whatever it was, it was humming something eerie and inhuman, but didn’t sound anything like any dolphin or whale he’d ever heard.

The hairs on the back of the man’s neck rose as he crept closer the edge of the dock. His gun was already loaded and in his hand as he moved with deliberate steps, slow and silent in an effort to avoid being detected. Once he had reached the edge, he cautiously leaned over to look into the dark water, but couldn’t see anything due to the darkness. As if sensing his need, the clouds suddenly lifted away from the moon to lend him the moonlight, which was strangely a luminous blue that gently graced the tips of somewhat rocky, black waves.

What the inky-haired youth saw caused him to drop his pistol and take a step back in disbelief. “What….”

In the water was a naked woman, or at least, what appeared to be a woman. She swam around lazily, slapping her tail fin, an actually tail fin, against the water as she swam. Long, liquid silver hair billowed in the water around her head as the light made it glimmer, which made her look even more ethereal than she already appeared. It was hard to tell the color of her skin tone exactly, except that maybe it had a slightly grayish hue to it.  She was beautiful and surreal, swimming as if she were alone in all of the great, big world.

Swallowing nervously, the young man started to back away slowly. Mermaid or siren, he had heard of these dangerous creatures before and it was said that they often led to a sailor’s demise. He’d never believed the tales before this night, but how could he deny the truth of it with it right there? He could always blame it on the booze, but he’d barely consumed enough to give him a buzz. It was certainly not enough to make him hallucinate, either, which meant that what he was witnessing had to be real. There was no way he was letting the creature lure him to his death or some other unsavory fate. As he turned to leave, he suddenly heard the sound of wet hands smacking onto the dock before heaving their body up out of the water until they could peer at him.

Feeling ice shoot up his body, the youth slowly turned his head and felt all the breath leave his lungs upon the sight of the naked siren staring at him curiously with her big, sea-green eyes. Her eyes were glowing in the dark, but not like an animal’s. This…was _different_. They glowed like the moon, yet seemed brighter somehow. He felt frozen where he stood; mesmerized by the sight of the inhuman eyes, that, upon closer inspection, had slit-like pupils.

While humming some odd tune, the siren used her upper body strength to pull herself completely onto the dock. Once completely out of the water, the siren propped herself up in an upright, sitting position. She regarded the young male with the eyes of a curious predator as she slapped her fin tail against the wooden planks of the dock.

“Calm your pounding heart, young one. I will not eat you, if that is what you fear,” spoke the siren, her lips not even moving as she communicated. She tilted her head to the side coyly, several clumps of her insanely long silver hair sticking to her chest, arms, and back like snakes writhing around her.

In spite of her calm, melodious words, the dark-haired youth found it difficult to dislodge his heart from his throat. As if sensing his distress, the siren started humming again and glancing around as if he weren’t that interesting to her.  It seemed to do the trick, though, and after another minute or two, the youth cleared his throat and asked in almost a stutter, “What… **what** are _you_?”

“I am the Mistress of the Seven Seas,” she began slowly, using one hand to brush some of her hair away from her beautiful face. “I am the Mother of Life…or at least, I will be, very soon…”

“What do you mean by that?” Asked the young man, clearly befuddled by her cryptic answer.

She sighed quietly at that, but didn’t show any other sign of impatience or frustration. “I believe your kind call me a ‘Mermaid’. The closest word to what I really am would be… _Siren_ , I believe.” Before he could open his mouth, the siren held up her hand to silence him. “Do not be alarmed, young one. I am not here to harm you. Unlike the tales, my kind does not lure sailors to their deaths, unless we are provoked. We are beyond the pleasures of petty amusements, unlike your kind…yet that doesn’t mean we have nothing in common with your kind. We…just have more _purpose_.”

“If that is true…then what is your ‘purpose’ here? What do you want?”

The Mermaid, or better yet, Siren, according to her testimony, didn’t smile; however, there was victory in her eyes as she regarded him. “ _Now_ you are asking the right questions. But first…I must ask, what do you want?”

“To find my bunk and get some sleep,” deadpanned the young man in an obvious attempt to get out of this sticky, strange situation. Wait…he had legs, she did not. So…what was keeping him glued to his spot? Even if the ship was nowhere in sight, he could always spend the night at the local tavern. And yet, he found he could not move no matter how hard he struggled to.

“No, silly boy,” the Siren chided as if she believed he should know better. “Tell me…what it is you _truly_ desire. Of all the things in this world and the next, what is it you truly want out of this life? Land, money, family…or perhaps something more? If you tell me what you desire most, I will tell you what I desire.”

What did he want? Like most young men, there were many things he desired in his life, but above all, there was only one thing he desired most. It was the only reason why he had let himself be recruited by Veld and his questionable crew of unsavory pirates. He wanted what Veld had, but _more_. Against his better judgment, the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop himself. “I want to be Captain of my own ship. I want to be respected by my crew, yet feared by the rest of the world. I want to be free…to roam the seas and to take whatever I want without explanation and without regard. I want to be the Legend that never dies…that lives forever.”

“I can give you what you want, _Vincent_ …” Purred the siren seductively as she slowly flicked her tail.

The youth blinked in confusion. “I never told you my name. How do you know my name?”

The silver-haired being bowed her head slightly as she answered, “I just know. Just as I know…you are _The One_.”

“The One for what?” Inquired Vincent incredulously, suddenly regretting that he had dropped his gun earlier. This woman, Mermaid, Siren, thing, whatever the fuck she was, was really starting to grate on his nerves. One of his pet peeves were people that danced around instead of shooting straight to the point.

“Give me a Son…and I will give you what you desire most,” promised the Siren as she intently watched him, her eyes never once blinking.

The dark-haired pirate wasn’t quite sure he had heard her quite right. “Give you a _what_ now?”

“A Son…a child for me to bear,” replied the Siren patiently, flicking her tail lazily against the dock.

Vincent crossed his arms and shifted his weight to his other foot. He looked her up and down as if trying to figure out some complex, mathematical equation that made absolutely no sense to him. “Not to be crude, but…how exactly can I give you a child? You’re a **fish** lady. We don’t quite… _fit_ together, if you know what I mean.”

The Siren smiled as if she had forgotten something very obvious. “Of course, you are quite right…” With a flourish of her webbed hand, her lower body glowed almost as brightly as a star. It was bright enough to cause Vincent to shield his sensitive eyes from the light and when the light faded, he glanced at her only to gasp in shock. Instead of the lower body of a fish, the Siren now had the body of a fully-fledged woman. In spite of himself, he stared longer than he probably should have. Distracted by her very pleasing feminine form, he breathed, “Who… _who_ are you?”

As she rose up on her now very human legs, the Siren shoved Vincent onto his back right before she straddled him. She leaned over and whispered into his ear, “You may call me _Jenova_ …”

  

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

_80 Years Later…_

Vincent Valentine, the legendary scourge of the Seven Seas, sat in his very roomy stateroom on his gigantic, black and red demonic ship, _Chaos_ , with a wine glass cradled in his hand as he reflected on his past. It was something he rarely did, but for some reason, he had woken up from a dream or nightmare, _he didn’t know what the difference was really_ , of someone with long silver hair and piercing, glowing sea-green eyes. The dream had caused him to grab the closest bottle of red wine before he had sat near the window to gaze out at the sea, watching the waves rhythmically sway to and fro as the luminous moon hung high overhead. Something about his dream, the sea, and that moon reminded him of that one fateful night.

Taking a moderate sip of his wine, he swallowed slowly as he felt the familiar burn of the alcohol spread from his throat down into his chest and eventually into his empty belly, warming him up quite nicely. He didn’t drink much, but when it came to nights like these, which was rare, he found a bit of wine to be rather comforting.

That Siren, or whatever she was, Jenova, she had said her name was, had delivered her side of the bargain. After that night, Vincent had felt strange…different. Whatever she had done to him had changed him, but it wasn’t until many years later that he had figured out exactly what it was. The very next day, after presumably giving Jenova what she wanted, a great, fearsome black ship with crimson sails arrived, bearing the name _Chaos_ and with it, a peculiar, loyal crew that immediately called him Captain. Thinking about it now, Vincent realized he had never actually verbally agreed to the bargain; however, the moment she had touched him, she had had him right where she had wanted him.

Jenova had given him everything he had wanted: A ship, infamy, a loyal crew, and anything he could ever want in his life. Everyone feared him and those that opposed him did not live very long. Despite having all the treasure he wanted, and conquering every vessel he came across, Vincent still felt…strangely empty. Despite his fame and fortune, every woman he took always left him in the end. He didn’t know why, but even if the women claimed love, as soon as he lay with them, they suddenly left. The last one, Lucrecia, her name had been, had been the only woman he felt he had actually loved. He had rescued her from being raped by another band of pirates and ever since that day, she had sailed with him on his ship. The more time passed, the more he felt he loved her and because of this, he avoided taking her to his bed in fear of her leaving him like all the others had. As long as he had her near him, it didn’t matter if he couldn’t touch her in the way he desperately wanted to. As long as Lucrecia was there, he could love her and it would be worth it. In the end, though, Lucrecia did leave him. Lucrecia ended up eloping with his crew’s doctor, Hojo, never to be seen or heard from again.

This heartbreak had left him feeling venomously bitter and angry for many years to come. After twenty years, Vincent realized that he wasn’t getting any older. He still looked the same age he had been when he had first met Jenova. His hair was longer, yet just as dark as it had always been. His skin was as youthful and as pale as he had been born with and despite his pain and frustration, not even a single wrinkle lined his gorgeous face. The only thing physically different about him besides his so-called immortality was his crimson eyes. Since his birth, his eyes had always been a warm, cinnamon brown. Now they were cold and hard, bearing the unforgiving color of blood.

Sighing, Vincent gingerly set the glass down on the ground and leaned against the glass window as he stared at the sparkling, dark water. He now knew that everything had its price, and perhaps, the price for his desires had cost him the purest desire of all: Love.

Back then, as a youth, love had been something he hadn’t been concerned about. He had been young and aspired to be something more than he was and to freely travel the seas. He had barely been nineteen-years-old at the time of the bargain and even then, he had believed that having a wife and children was something he could always do later. He had believed that he would have matured over time and settled down when he was ready, too. Like many humans, he had believed there would be more time.

How very wrong he had been.

The fucked-up thing about it was that he had the time, plenty of time, more time than he knew what to do with; however, something still wouldn’t let him have what he now truly desired.

Vincent rubbed his face with one hand as he thought of the wife and children he would probably never have. When his thoughts turned to children, he suddenly wondered about Jenova and the ‘Son’ she had evidently received from his seed. Had she actually gotten what she wanted from him? Did he really have a son somewhere, out there, and was the boy all right? Was he grown now and did the boy have his own family now? Better yet, was the boy even human or was he like his mother? The thought was an odd one since sailors have never spoken of a male siren. But then again, sailor talk was just that, talk. Even if there was a seed of truth to it, most of it was pure claptrap. The seas were vast and mysterious in its entirety. There was no way for man to ever know what truly dwelled beneath the surface of it. So, who was to say there were no male sirens? The sirens had to reproduce somehow and if his encounter with Jenova had been a normal one, then it seemed they reproduced in a similar way to his kind.

Shaking his head of these vexing thoughts, Vincent growled. It was no use thinking of any of this now. No matter where he sailed, or how far he sailed, he had never caught sight of Jenova, or any other ‘Siren’ ever again. He didn’t even know if she was still alive and besides, it seemed like a useless, futile search. If she had gotten what she truly wanted from him, then most likely, he would never find her again.

That’s when Vincent truly pondered about why Jenova had chosen him, who she had dubbed as ‘The One’, and why she had wanted a son in the first place. It was no use. This was utterly a pointless pursuit. He would never know the truth until he found Jenova, and until then, he would be lost. What if this was his curse? His curse to live forever never knowing why Jenova had chosen him, who his son was, if he even had a child, and why Vincent wasn’t able to love anyone beyond words. Gritting his teeth, he felt a hot wave of rage course through his blood. Vincent punched his window, the glass shattering and dropping like glittering red diamonds into the murky waters below. Rivulets of blood dribbled down his hand and onto the floor, but he didn’t notice it. Within moments, the embedded glass pushed out of his flesh and dropped to the floor. His flesh mended itself and within moments, his pale skin was smooth and unblemished once more.

A loud, yet urgent knock rapped suddenly at his door, rudely interrupting his brooding session. Quickly striding over to his stateroom door, he ripped it open and nearly snarled. “What is it?”

His first mate, Cid Highwind, stared at him, clearly unimpressed by his surly attitude. “Whatever weird, cranky ass episode ya were just havin’, that I unwittingly disturbed, is going to have to wait. I’m sorry, Capn’, but we’re about to reach the Port of Costa Del Sol.“

“And?” Growled Vincent as he strode over to pick up his glass of wine again to take another sip.

Cid smacked his forehead in a mocking gesture. “Oh, for fuckin’ Gaia’s sake… _ya_ told me to notify ya the moment we were close to port, Capn’. Either yer gettin’ old, or yer drunk off yer arse. Or both.”

“I am not-” Vincent started, but suddenly hiccupped in midsentence despite the fact that he wasn’t actually inebriated. “-drunk.”

The blond First Mate didn’t look like he believed Vincent, but he didn’t dare argue with his Captain because he respected the man. Captain Valentine was obviously having a tough time right now, and truthfully, if Cid were being brutally honest, he would have to say his Captain has been having issues for several years now. Ever since that…Lucrecia lady person. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. If he ever saw that dumb bitch again, he was surely going to deck her one whether the Captain approved of it or not. “Whatever ya say, Capn’.”

As if sensing his First Mate’s thoughts, Vincent sighed and set the glass down on a nearby table. “We dock as soon as we reach the port, but we will not leave the ship until morning. Wake everyone up and get them ready. This town isn’t going by unscathed. Those lazy dogs have had enough rest. Get them to work.”

 _That was more like it._ Cid smiled and replied, “Yes, Capn!”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Costa Del Sol was a rather large island inhabited by a mix of people since the original inhabitants had been killed several hundred years ago by explorers. For an island, it offered a lot of trade including spices, alcohol, rare fruits, gold, gems, and other valuable commodities rare to the rest of the discovered world. Many ships came to Costa Del Sol just to trade and to buy from the merchants whatever was available. It was a very successful and frequented island that was protected by some of Lord Shinra’s soldiers. The indigenous people that had once lived here had had a good thing going and unfortunately, that is why they were massacred.

Vincent had only been kidding when he had talked about attacking the town. He wouldn’t have ordered the ship to be brought to port if he had truly intended to ransack the place. Truth was, this was one of the few places he felt the need to pillage. It was a great place to trade what his crew stole, and was also a nice place for his men to freely relax and enjoy themselves. Even as feared as Valentine and his crew was, there weren’t many places they could freely frequent. As long as Vincent’s crew didn’t identity what they were and behaved themselves, more or less, Lord Shinra’s men left them alone, despite them being pirates.

Costa Del Sol was also the place he had first met Jenova and had been granted his…wish, so to speak. Since then, the small town had grown exponentially over the eighty some years Vincent Valentine had marauded as a pirate captain. Part of that was due to the trade Vincent and his men regularly brought to the island. Not to mention, many years ago, Vincent had personally taken care of a criminal boss by the name of Don Corneo. The crime lord had been bleeding the island dry of its resources for a year, had stolen and forced young girls into prostitution, and had even given Lord Shinra’s men a lot of trouble until the pirate Captain Valentine had stepped in. Knowing that words nor money would never sway a greedy, power-hungry criminal like Corneo, Vincent had bribed the crime lord’s men so that he could get close enough to the man. Once he had had the fat, perverted man in his sights, he had quickly shot him in the face in front of the crime lord’s disloyal men, thus ending Don Corneo’s ridiculous reign.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Later that night, while his men frequented the taverns and brothels, Vincent stood on the very same dock where he had previously met Jenova all those years ago. Like those years ago, the night was dreadfully shrouded in darkness due to the moon hidden behind clouds. Every time he visited the island, he found himself drawn here to this very spot and every time he waited, it was for nil. After years of nothing but the rocking, dark waves and sometimes the moon casting light, his hope for a reunion had almost completely diminished.

Like a veil being lifted, the clouds moved aside to allow the luminous moon to reveal itself and to cast the eerie blue light upon the world instead of the usual silvery light. Feeling a sense of déjà vu, the pirate Captain watched the water curiously, almost expectantly. But after around an hour or so of waiting, absolutely nothing had happened.

Feeling both annoyed and weary, the dark-haired man turned away from the water and began to stride away, his boots clapping against the wood as he walked. He stopped suddenly when he felt the distinct sensation of someone or something watching him. Turning around, he glanced around to pinpoint the source, but found nothing but dark water. Even with his enhanced night vision, he couldn’t spot anything out of the ordinary and that vexed him. Feeling unnerved by the continued sensation of being watched, he was almost tempted to shout. In his youth, he probably would have, but he was no longer the young man he had once been.

Instead, he turned away again and made his way back to his silent ship despite the nagging feeling in his head and gut.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Shortly before dawn, there was a loud, urgent rapping at Vincent's stateroom door. Knowing better than to ignore it, especially since no one bothered him unless it was important, he heaved himself out of his bed to answer the door. His attempt to sleep that night had been futile, anyway since sleep would not dare visit him. He had ended up tossing and turning the entire night due to some gnawing, restless feeling he’d received that night on the dock.

Glancing at the mirror, he quickly smoothed his unruly, inky black hair so that it was somewhat presentable. His bandana and hat had been strewn somewhere in his room, but he’d find it later before leaving his room for the day. On the other side of the door, his First Mate stood at attention with a grim face.

"Sorry, Capn’, but this is urgent. One of the fisherman, or should I say, fisherwoman, caught something early morn’. She claims it’s of interest to ya,” declared Cid, his rough, unshaven face hard and humorless.

There were only a few things that caused the First Mate to appear that way and one of those things was Vincent’s obsession with Sirens. The Captain knew his First Mate didn’t approve of it, had even voiced his opinion of it a few rimes, but he didn’t care. After a few curt words with the blond man, Cid had stopped voicing his disapproval. His job was to follow orders and relay Vincent’s orders, not question his judgement. If the First Man couldn’t do his job then he would be stripped of his title and possibly thrown overboard. The crimson-eyed man only put up with so much from his man and could always find someone else to replace Cid. It wouldn’t be the first nor the last time he had had to replace his men, after all.

Vincent raised one slender black eyebrow. “What did she find?”

“She wouldn’t dare say. All she said was that it was of interest to ya and told me to come fetch ya straight away,” replied the blond First Mate as he scowled, obviously bothered by the fisherwoman’s stubbornness to reveal what her catch was. He was pretty sure he knew what it was and was none too happy to have his Captain riled up by more notions of magical, non-existent sea people.

The crimson-eyed man slid his eyes shut for a moment as he sighed quietly. When he opened his eyes, he noticed the blond man staring at something and realized that his robe was loose enough to reveal part of his smooth, pale chest. He was not oblivious to the fact that the man continued to lust for him. The blond had approached him about it a few years ago, but the pirate Captain had quickly shut him down right away. Not only did he not desire men in that way, but he didn’t fuck his crew because it would be an abuse of his power and would possibly disturb the respect his men had for him. As long as his men were quiet and didn’t wake him up, he didn’t rightly care if they were involved with one another, or had homosexual orgies on board the ship. Just as long as they were quiet about it and continued to do their work duties, their personal lives were of no consequence to him.

Pulling his crimson robe tighter around his body, he narrowed his eyes at his First Mate, appearing unpleased by the younger man’s blatant audacity. When the blond looked away and had the decency to look abashed, Vincent said, “Very well. We leave in ten minutes.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Twenty minutes later, fully dressed and on board the small fishing vessel, Vincent watched as the short woman approached him with a wide grin.

“Oi, Vinny! It’s been a while, huh. I got something real good for you. I hope you’re willing to **pay** for it!” Chattered the short woman as she continued to grin like a smug cat.

“Don’t address the Capn’ _that_ way, Yuffie,” growled Cid. He knew full well that his Captain didn’t like being addressed by his first name by anyone, and especially hated it when people reduced his name to such a childish pet name. Vincent was a respectable, yet feared man, not some silly little brat running around the streets.

“He is correct, my name is not Vinny. Refer to me as Valentine, or I will leave,” drawled Vincent as his impatience grew. As eager as he was to see her ‘catch’, he knew he had to cement his poker face while he bluffed. He honestly disliked this woman because she was so goddamn irritating, loud, and obnoxious. Every time she dared call him _Vinny_ , he wanted to shoot her in the mouth. Not even his rowdy sisters had been foolish enough to reduce his name to something so stupid and sickening.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you big depressing party pooper. Don’t get your knickers in a twist,” grumbled Yuffie, skinny arms crossed over her flat chest. Because she looked so young, was incredibly short, and lacked the feminine curves and features of most women, many people mistook the young woman for a pubescent boy. And like Cid, she had also propositioned Vincent, too, only to be flat out rejected on the spot. But unlike Cid, she never seemed to give up and tried throwing herself at the pirate Captain at every opportunity she received.

“I do not have all day to dawdle here,” growled Vincent as he glared coldly at the impetuous young woman. “If you actually have something for me, show me now or I will leave. If it is of interest to me, I will buy it from you with _only_ gold.”

Any time she claimed to have something significant for him, Yuffie always requested a _night_ with him and he always declined it whether or not she actually had something of value. He was not some common whore for sell and nor was he desperate enough to fuck a dirty, boyish girl. If she actually had something he desired, like Jenova or some other Siren, he would give her gold. And if she didn’t accept the payment, he would just kill her and take what he wanted. Vincent was indeed a pirate, after all.

“You’re no fun,” said the fisherwoman with a pout, the smudge of dirt and grime on her face making her appear all the more like an ill-mannered little boy.

Before Vincent or Cid could respond, there was the loud sound of a thud from inside Yuffie’s modest boat. Whatever it was sounded big and strong as it continued to whack at the wood. It sounded similar to that of a dolphin smacking its body and tail fin against the deck when it had ended up stranded on board during a storm. It could very well be a dolphin now, but the small hope still simmering within him suddenly flared up. Keen on knowing what it was, whether it was to quench or dash his hopes, the pirate Captain shoved impatiently past the short woman. As he did, he called back, “Keep her occupied, Cid.”

Already ahead of Vincent, Cid had grabbed and restrained the struggling girl to prevent her from getting in his Captain’s way. Although she was short and petite, the girl was much stronger than she appeared and embarrassingly enough, the blond man was struggling with all his strength just to keep her at bay.

  

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Once inside the ship, Vincent followed the sounds of the struggling creature, which seemed to grow louder and more insistent with each step he took. It was as if the creature knew he was approaching and was desperate to escape its fate since Vincent could very well be a predator.

Pushing open the door to what looked like the head of the boat, he was greeted by the sight of a crude toilet and a metal basin that looked too small for Vincent to bathe in. In the basin, which was much too small for the creature it held, was what appeared to be a man of significant size and stature. He very quickly realized that the man, no, the creature, was not a human. Chained cruelly to the basin, the creature was gripping the edge of the basin with one hand while the other was raised, as if it had been using it to pound at the wall. Its black scaly hips could be seen with the rest of its lover body hidden from view by the cold metal.

Suddenly now deathly still, the familiar hypnotic green eyes attached to a hauntingly beautiful face, watched Vincent rather intently. For a moment, he thought it was Jenova, but then realized the face was different along with the larger, more masculine shape of the leanly muscular upper body. It took the Captain a moment to realize that this creature was not Jenova, but could possibly be a blood relation.

Stepping closer, the pirate Captain peered into the washbowl to find that the other half of the beautiful creature’s body was that of a Siren. Its tail was cramped around in the too small basin and although he wasn’t an expert on the biology of Sirens, the heavy chains and forced position looked quite painful to his eyes. He really hoped the male Siren wasn’t injured or he would be forced to strangle that little boyish wench. But at least the wench had thought to fill the basin with salt water to keep it from drying out like fish and whales tended to do when out of water for too long.

As if not liking the attention taken away from it, the male siren began to hum as if to gain Vincent’s attention back. When the dark-haired man looked it in the face, their eyes locked and suddenly, the crimson-eyed man was struck with a sensation he did not like, one he had experienced once before, long ago.

Vincent felt utterly frozen in the place where he stood.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~


	2. The Siren

Unable to look away or follow any of his own brain's commands, the pirate captain took a step forward as if his paralyzed body was being pulled by a magnet. He took another step and then another before the door to the head flew open bearing both a panting and angry Cid and Yuffie. Both immediately tried to walk through the small doorway at once, which caused them to become wedged together unpleasantly. The petite girl wriggled around as she shoved at Cid and used the wood to help slide herself up, which caused her flat chest to slot against the blond pirate's face. 

"Hey! Get yer mosquito bites out of my bloody fucking face!" Complained the blond man when suddenly unwashed skin was pressed against his rough, unshaven face. While most of his shipmates smelled terrible due to many weeks or months out at sea, ( _with exception to the captain_ _since he always seemed to smell good_ ) Yuffie's stench was beyond what Cid was used to tolerating. What was truly horrifying to him was that he could smell something that smelled suspiciously like dead, rotting fish, but far, far worse. Knowing what it was and not wanting  _that_  in his face, he tried to pull her down and off of him before she could shimmy up any higher. 

" ** _Hey_**! I will have ya know that I am a fully formed woman! _Gods_! Men are so stupid!" Protested the fisherwoman as she tried to wriggle free like a caught fish. The feeling of prickly hairs and a greasy face rubbing against her chest made Yuffie want to puke so she quickly twisted more until her crotch was right in the blond pirate’s face.

Before Cid could stop himself, he accidentally breathed in the rancid smell of Yuffie’s unwashed vagina. Gagging from the putrid smell, a stench so gross he swore he could actually _taste_ it, it was all the blond man could do not to puke on the spot. Of course, he held his vomit back not because he didn’t want to sully her; it had more to do with the fact that if he vomited, it was end up all over _his_ own bloody face.

The loud entrance and protests of the First Mate and the fisherwoman snapped Vincent out of whatever trance he had been lost in. He found he could move again, and suddenly realized just how close he was to the male siren. Almost close enough to be touched by the creature, he then noticed that it was staring past him at the people behind him. He didn't know if he was imagining it or not, but the siren looked.... _annoyed_. 

His own annoyance mirroring the siren's, Vincent snapped, "Enough, both of you!" And when he had both of their undivided attentions fixed on him, he continued, "I will take the siren. Name your price in gold, or in valuables, and it shall be yours."

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

_Nightfall_

Although he had not approved of the cruel way the siren had been treated, the pirate captain had been forced to wait until nightfall to transport the siren. While they waited, a local smith and inventor called Reeve Tuesti had delivered a large tank to his ship before installing it in the captain's spacious stateroom. The tank had been commissioned and constructed years ago by Vincent when his hopes had been younger and far more ambitious. The tank was wide and long enough for the creature to move comfortably and to avoid water from splashing out should the ship rock violently during a storm. It was ten feet high, six feet wide, and at least twelve feet long. The only place on the ship, besides the deck, that could house such a tank, was Vincent's capacious stateroom. Reeve made sure to reinforce the tank to be bolted with chains to the walls and ceiling, and the bottom of the tank bolted to the floor.

Reeve was usually the person he employed when he needed repairs for his ship or his weapons. Sometimes he commissioned him for other things, like a seeing eye glass, eccentric weapons, or a tank to hold a siren in. The inventor was good at what he did and didn’t stick his nose in Vincent’s business. He only asked what was necessary to get the job done and he never tried to extort the captain for more than he deserved. The only thing that irritated the crimson-eyed man was the inventor’s unruly black cat called Cait Sith. It seemed intent on getting on his nerves no matter what and even went as far as going out of its way to claw him on purpose. Because he didn’t want to lose Reeve, he warned him to cage the cat whenever they had business to conduct.

It took many hours of work to finish the job, but when it was done, his crew spent hours filling the tank up with sea water while Vincent waited in Yuffie's head to keep an eye on the valuable siren. His second, Barret Wallace, stood guard with him just in case Yuffie or others decided to double cross him by stealing his creature right under his nose when he wasn’t looking. Barret was a big, strong man that had a great sense of humor, got along well with the other men; however, in spite of his good nature, he was serious when the time called for it. Unlike most of the other pirates, Barret was a good, trustworthy man. The only reason he had joined Vincent’s crew was out of sheer desperation to earn enough money to support his family and to pay for costly medicine and regular doctor visits for his sick daughter, Marlene. It was tough for him to be away for long periods of time, but it was necessary and because he made more than enough, his family didn’t struggle and his daughter continued to live. If he hadn’t joined Vincent’s crew, Marlene would have surely died.

Because Yuffie had damaged the siren while capturing, transporting, and storing it, Vincent had knocked off a good chunk of her price. While waiting, he had taken the opportunity presented to take a closer look at the creature before realizing it was actually wounded. Some of its long nails were broken and there were scratches and welts marring the creature’s pale, human-like upper body. Even several scales looked like they’d been ripped off and more upsetting was the amount of damage that had been done to the tail fin. It looked ripped, no, more like _shredded_. By every god on land or sea, he couldn’t fathom how or why such damage had been inflicted on this creature. While it was unavoidable to capture anything, especially if it was violently struggling for freedom, without wounding it slightly, his keen eyes could tell that the short woman had been rather careless in this endeavor.

Yuffie had sworn up and down and to every god in the world that she hadn't damaged the siren. She claimed to have found him sleeping in her net when she woke up to begin her work day. She also claimed she had been able to wrangle the siren with the help of a couple hired deckhands she used whenever her catches proved to be more work than she could handle by herself. The story seemed quite... _fishy_  to Vincent and yet, he knew he couldn't prove she was lying. He finally had what he wanted, so in the end, it didn't really matter. Whether the siren was injured by Yuffie or some other marine life, the pirate captain was still going to take him on board his ship and let him heal safe in his new tank. 

Still, he had to pay Yuffie because she’d done what no one else had been able to do: she’d captured a mythological creature. It was something that most didn’t believe could possibly exist in this world or the next. But yes, he had lowered the price substantially because he had specified to her that he’d wanted the siren to be unharmed. Vincent could be very persuasive when he needed to be and despite his willingness to trade with people, Yuffie was well aware that he could easily kill her and take the creature without trading for it. Because of this, the short girl had grudgingly agreed and had accepted his offer while grumbling under her breath. While it was true that she could have gotten a much higher offer elsewhere, she wasn’t stupid. If she had rejected his offer, he would have killed her and taken the siren anyway.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Unlocking the siren from its thick chains and transporting it to the _Chaos_ proved to be a much more difficult endeavor than Vincent had originally anticipated. He watched baffled as the creature thrashed against its chains while hissing in warning at anyone that dared near it. Since the siren still had use of its arms, it could easily grab or scratch anyone within its reach.

Vincent briefly considered knocking the siren out, but then again, someone would have to get close enough to do it. Then there was the fact that the siren was already injured enough already and he didn’t want to risk wounding it more than it already was.

"Captain, why don't we use some  _Sleep Mist_  on the thing to knock 'em out?" Suggested one of his men, the dark-haired pirate called Shears. 

It wasn't a bad idea and Vincent normally would have considered it, but this creature was valuable to him in such a way one could say it was priceless to him. He had spent many years trying to find Jenova or even just one of her kind, only to fail miserably year after year. Until now. He wasn't about to risk killing the _only_ siren he'd encountered in over eighty plus years. Who knew when and _if_ he'd ever encounter another one. Shaking his head, he denied, "No. I would rather not risk the siren having a bad reaction to the drug. It's..."

Vincent trailed off as soon as he locked gazes with the siren. Those mesmerizing eyes were oozing with intelligence; the kind of intelligence usually found in humans. It felt wrong to refer to the siren as an  _it_ , let alone think of him as an it, when the creature seemed to be more than he appeared. Hell, even calling him a  _creature_  seemed wrong even if that’s what he was. But why? There was something more, he could feel it, yet he couldn't properly pinpoint what it was that made him feel this way. 

Shears crossed his arms and scoffed, "So we risk our necks for it?"

" **Him**. And no,  _I_  will risk my neck for him. However, you all will assist me, _if_ I need it," replied Vincent as he began cautiously approaching the siren. 

Vincent knew he wasn't being the most rational person in the room, yet he knew it was crazier to risk the lives of his own crew for his own longtime consuming obsession.  It made more sense for him to risk his neck over this anthropomorphic creature than to risk the necks of mortal men. Unlike his men, Vincent would most likely survive any attack made by this injured siren since he seemed to heal quickly enough. 

"Capn', you shouldn't--" Started Cid before he was cut off by a sharp red-eyed glare. Shutting his mouth into a thin line, he and the rest of his ship mates watched on anxiously as their captain approached the deadly siren.

It was not missed by Vincent that his crew, especially when they chattered or got too close to the siren, caused the silver-haired being some form of irritation or distress. Whatever look of annoyance that had been on the siren’s face was quickly replaced by one of interest as the pirate captain carefully approached the siren. His steps were slow as to not spook him and his arms were bent with his palms facing the siren in a gesture to prove that he wasn’t a threat to him.

“I don’t know if you can understand me or not, but I’m not going to hurt you. As long as I breathe, you will be safe,” soothed Vincent, his voice low and gentle. It struck him then that this was the first time he’d spoken in this manner since…since one of his sisters had suffered a broken arm. He’d talked this way to calm her down while the doctor had examined and set her arm so that it would heal correctly. It had worked well enough to both ease and distract her at the same time without struggle or complication. Remembering this caused a wave of nostalgia to wash over him right before cold reality gouged its talons into his chest, reminding him that his family, his parents and his sisters, were probably all dead by now. Any memory that remained within his mind was all he had left of them. He couldn’t even clearly recall how they looked since he didn’t have any portraits of them with him. Since they hadn’t been rich, their family hadn’t been able to afford such a luxury, anyway. What was worse besides that truth was the bottomless guilt and sorrow that he knew would never wane as long as he lived and probably not even _after_. Vincent had chosen this life instead of his own family, had chosen his fate. Because of his desire to become what he was now, he had lost everything precious to him.

So why exactly had he been so obsessed with finding Jenova? At first it had been because he had wanted answers, like why everyone he loved left him and if that had been intended on her part. Then it started changing from the need to know to the need to obsess. And he did obsess, oh how he obsessed. He even obsessed over the thought of Jenova carrying and raising his progeny. Did he actually have a son, or had that merely been a misdirection? For all he knew, the siren wench might have just been horny and wanting to fuck him over in more than one way.

The siren didn't move a muscle as it watched him intently, not even blinking as he neared him. Whatever crew was in the head with their captain held their breath as they watched anxiously. Every pirate on board believed the siren was dangerous, but more than that, the superstitious crew believed the creature to be a bad omen spelling their doom. It would be better to kill it, or at least throw it overboard, yet they knew better than to suggest those viable options. 

Fishing the key out of his pocket, Vincent slowly knelt down so that he could begin unlocking several of the chain locks, each one seeming to weigh at least ten pounds. Picking up one chain, he realized the thick chain must weigh at least fifty pounds! There were at least ten chains weighing the siren down, which didn't seem necessary at all and made him want to chain up Yuffie in the same manner. 

The heavy locks thudded against the ground, causing the small room to echo as the metal chains slipped free and clanked against the wooden floor. When each chain lay around the tub and no longer restrained the siren, Vincent moved to stand, but was halted by the feeling of claws scraping lightly against his bare neck. Remaining crouched down on one bent knee, the crimson-eyed man stopped breathing as he watched the siren, their faces barely inches apart now. Deadly fingers trailed up his neck and over his face, the lacquered black nails tickling his skin without breaking it. The light touch awakened something within Vincent, something that made his stomach knot up and his chest clench almost painfully. It felt suspiciously like the feeling of being lovesick.

Looking into those hypnotic, malachite colored eyes, the urge to close in the distance, to kiss and taste every inch of his face, befell Vincent in such a way he wasn't even aware of his own actions. He couldn't help leaning closer and tilting his face a bit to—

—"Capn'! What in the blazes are ya doing?!" Barked his First Mate's confused voice, which caused the crimson-eyed man to jerk his face away from the siren like he’d been scalded by fire. Thankfully those dark nails had already left his face otherwise he would have ended up with a shredded face. The sound of Cid's grating voice broke whatever spell hung over the captain, which Vincent felt grateful for since he had felt the sudden, strong temptation to kiss the alluring sea creature. Never before in his life had he ever felt tempted to kiss another man, let alone something that appeared to be half human and half fish. Jenova had been a different case and despite the fact he'd willingly fucked her, he'd never kissed her during their coupling and she'd never tried to, either.

The siren turned his head to look at the source of the noise, his luminous green eyes narrowing. The earlier look of annoyance returned and part of the pirate captain couldn't help feeling annoyed, too. More than he cared to admit, anyway. With the siren’s head turned, the pirate captain was able to spot the set of gills on the side of the siren’s neck, which meant the silver-haired being could breathe in the water like a fish. The steady rising of his chest also indicated that the siren could also breathe air like a mammal, as well.

“It’s fine, everything is fine,” murmured Vincent. After he spoke the words, he wasn’t so sure who he was speaking them to: his crew, the siren, or to himself. Maybe all three, who knew.

“Daylight will be upon us in a few hours,” reminded Barret in a solemn voice, his dark, handsome face grim. Like Cid, he harbored a similar, yet more professional respect for his captain. He couldn’t help believing this siren obsession was madness. To try to transport something like that to the ship was crazy, let alone keeping the thing on board the ship. Although he was a bit more intelligent compared to the other pirates, the big man was still superstitious and believed the creature to be a bad omen. But he wasn’t the captain, none of them were, and all they could really do was follow the orders of the man they trusted.

Nodding curtly at the taller man, Vincent understood more than anyone else that time was of the essence. The less people saw him with his precious cargo, the better. Yuffie had a big mouth on her and would undoubtedly blab about her big catch to anyone that would listen, or better yet, _pay_ to listen. Killing her would prove to be a waste of time because he was certain at least a handful of people, including the men that had helped her catch the siren, already knew the big secret.

"Don't struggle, " Vincent warned the siren, his voice nearly a growl. He wasn't certain if he could understand him or not since for all he knew, like the whales and the dolphins, the sirens could very well have their own unique way of communicating. It would be presumptuous of him to believe the siren had learned his language, but still, he had to try. If he spoke in more soothing tones, perhaps this siren wouldn't fight him. He'd never spoken to another man in such a way, had never wanted to, so it felt strange and unnatural to him, but then he remembered this wasn't a human man. This was his siren. Leaning in close, he quietly said, “I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to take you to my ship, where you'll be safe.  I'd prefer to carry you there but if you struggle my men will insist on the net." He then he motioned to the several nets that his crew were holding in their hands. 

The crimson-eyed man hoped the siren understood or at the very least, didn't struggle too much. He really didn't want to be forced to throw nets over him and drag or carry him to his ship in the rough nets. It wasn't just the desire to keep him unharmed that made him hope for something less violent. It was possible if the siren struggled, he would make a lot of loud noise. Vincent didn't really need Shinra's men or worse, other rival pirates, running over to investigate. 

The siren remained quiet, but he did appear to be soothed by the low, gentle words only he had been able to hear. Vincent's own men would have been shocked to hear him speak that way, so it was better if they didn't hear. 

Preparing himself for the worst, Vincent hooked one arm under an armpit while the other slipped under the tail to help support the fish like body so it wouldn't drag on the ground. Before he moved to heave the siren up out of the basin, he nearly jumped when he felt long, strong arms slide around him, the siren pressing his naked chest against the captain's clothed one. Green eyes watched him intently and it was all he could do not to allow his suddenly weakened knees to buckle as he started to lift the heavy siren out of the basin. The sea creature was a bit lighter than he had first anticipated, but then again, Vincent wasn't a normal man and had the strength of at least ten men.

Once he had the siren in his arms, which admittedly felt good too good to the pirate captain, he coughed and turned to his men. With the siren this close, he could smell the sea on him, a scent he loved more than any flower, food, or perfume. Underneath that scent was another scent, a musky, masculine one that made his body feel entirely too warm, almost hot. The compulsion to kiss the siren again returned; however, he forced it away in favor of getting off this boat and onto his ship. He couldn't afford to tarry any longer no matter how tempting such a creature was to him. 

"Let's go," said Vincent as he began striding forward quickly, his leather boots clapping loudly against the wood as he walked bearing the combined weight of himself and the siren.  His men all exchanged mixed looks of surprise and disbelief before they, too, quickly followed after him off the boat and into the night. 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

During the night, Vincent slept fitfully from blurred dreams, surreal dreams that seemed all too real to him. It started with that night with Jenova when he was a young man, to nights with strangers, their faces a blur of color and nothing else. Strangely enough, despite not having seen Jenova for over eighty years, he still clearly remembered her face, in the waking world and in the dream world. And yet, he couldn't remember all of his other past lovers, their faces blank and unrecognizable like melted clay. He was even starting to forget Lucrecia's, too, despite how fresh the wound still felt to him. 

In his dreams, he touched and ground against feminine bodies in the ageless, sensual dance of life. It had started with Jenova before morphing into countless faces he didn't remember until Jenova's face made a reappearance once again. Nestled between his spread legs, he watched as she nuzzled and licked at his inner thighs, sharp teeth teasing skin before she reached his groin. Long, silky silver hair tickled his skin, which felt cool against his hot flesh as a long, wet, and hot appendage tongued at the base of his straining cock in a teasing manner.

Propped up by his elbows, he looked down and watched the erotic scene with piqued interest. He reached down and wound his fingers in long strands of gunmetal locks before the siren between his legs looked up at him. It took him a few moments to realize that the beautiful face gazing up at him from beneath long eyelashes wasn't Jenova, but the male siren he'd just recently taken aboard his ship. 

"Vincent...now that you have me, what are you going to do with me?" Inquired an obviously masculine voice, low and deep at the same time, brimming full of otherworldly sensuality. Although he'd never heard anything like this mellifluous voice before, it still made his fingers and toes curl in delight. It only made him harder, which embarrassed him enough to reach down to cover himself as he tried to close his legs, but the siren knocked Vincent’s hands away and wouldn’t move from between the pirate’s spread legs.

Crawling over Vincent's body, hot flesh and cool hair trailing against the slightly smaller body beneath him, the male siren stared down at him intently with such heat it made the pirate captain shiver from the sheer intensity of it. "My name is Sephiroth," he whispered just before he closed the distance to brush his lips against Vincent's already parted ones. 

And that’s the exact moment the raven-haired man awoke with a start, his body jerking up into an upright position. His chest heaved a bit as he panted, crimson eyes wide and glancing around wildly. It took him a few moments to spot the large tank with the siren still within it, bathed in the light of the moon that streamed into the room from the windows. The siren appeared asleep on the bottom of the tank with part of his face buried in his folded arms, bubbles rising up to the surface from his gills as he breathed through them. He barely moved much, though his damaged tail twitched every so often as he slept.

Although he still felt a bit paranoid, the captain relaxed as he watched the siren sleep. The sweat covering his body and making his clothes stick to him, had already cooled and now felt downright unpleasant. He then flung the sheet from his body before he peeled his shirt and pants off, flinging the soaked material to the ground in disgust. The cool air met his wet skin, making him hiss a bit from the sharp discomfort before he realized he was still very much aroused by his dream despite everything.

Looking back at the slumbering siren, he contemplated what he should do next. Should he attempt to sleep again, or should he… _take care_ of his persistent problem? After all, it had been a while since he’d last relieved himself in this way, and the siren was sleeping, so what could it hurt? The last thing he wanted to do was walk the deck in the morning pissed off from being sexually frustrated, _again_. His crew certainly didn’t deserve that since it wasn’t their fault he was sexually deprived, neurotic mess of a man. On more than one occasion, Cid had pointed out how cantankerous he was being, which of course was all due to Lucrecia leaving him. While his First Mate was understanding about him being torn up inside, Vincent knew the man was right about his crew not deserving to be his unwitting targets.

Watching the siren, he leaned back against the headboard of his bed. Flashes of his dream returned to him as he stared at the siren, which didn’t at all help with his throbbing problem, but it did cause him to remember what had been said in the dream. _Sephiroth_. In the dream, the siren had spoken to Vincent and had told him that his name was Sephiroth. It was an unusual name, one that Vincent couldn’t remember ever hearing before in his life. So where had the name come from? It had been just a dream, or so he told himself. If Jenova could change her form into that of a human woman, could this male siren intercept his thoughts, speak to him somehow, even as he lay dreaming? It didn’t seem at all plausible, and yet here Vincent was, already well over a century old with the face and body of a young, beautiful man when he should be a wrinkled, shriveled old man, or already dead in the ground.

After what felt hours, but was actually a span of several minutes, the weary, yet aroused captain gave into his sexual urges.  Sighing shakily, he licked his right hand before he wrapped it around his dick and squeezed before he began jerking himself in earnest. His strokes were quick as he fucked his own hand, his own seed helping to slick the way as he pumped his hips. Normally, he would have wanted to take his time, but he wasn’t exactly alone. The siren was sleeping now, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t wake up during Vincent’s _self-loving_.

Thinking about the siren caused him to bite back a groan, his hips violently stuttering and hand gripping himself harder from the sudden, unexpected stimulation. Not able to help himself, or better yet, not caring any longer, he raised his eyes away from his ministrations to watch the beautiful siren. Images flashed in his brain as he watched him, of the siren between his legs pleasuring him with his mouth, to unexpected fantasies of Vincent pushing the other man down face first while slamming into him from behind. In his dreams and his fantasies, the siren had the body of a man built for sin. It seemed all too real in his mind as he saw it and it almost felt real to him as he roughly jacked himself off, barely able to keep himself quiet while he fucked his own hand.

Close to his mounting release and unable to continue staring at the sleeping siren any longer, he threw his head back against his pillow and screwed his eyes shut tightly. The heels of his feet dug hard into his bed as he thrusted his hips savagely up into his clenching right hand while his left hand twisted in the bed sheets. In his mind, he could see the siren, Sephiroth, whatever his name was, above him, _riding_ him the same way women had done so all of these years…only this felt better somehow. He could see his own hands trailing over the naked, slick smooth flesh of the green-eyed man’s chest before sliding down to grip narrow hips as if to keep him hooked there as he rocked up into his unbelievably tight, hot heat. Looking up at the alluring man, Vincent locked eyes with the siren and then he was done, his hips jerkily bucking as he came with a strangled cry.

Eyes still closed as he panted from his intense orgasm, his body felt light as a feather until he suddenly remembered that he wasn’t exactly alone. The pirate captain’s eyes snapped open in bewilderment as he hastily sat up and looked at the siren. He felt immensely relieved, albeit a tiny bit disappointed, that he was actually still fast asleep in his tank. Looking down at his body, he was baffled to find that not a trace of his own seed lingered on his own body or anywhere else as far as he could tell. It was strange and he didn’t understand it…yet, something, perhaps some unseen force, seemed to be pushing against him and filling his mind until all he could think about was sleeping. No longer feeling light as a feather, his body felt heavy and drained as he slowly slumped back down in his bed, his head with its unruly dark locks, supported by his punished pillow. No longer able to fight the desire to sleep, his eyes slid closed as he ultimately succumbed to sleep.

As soon as crimson eyes slid closed, green eyes slowly opened to regard the slumbering pirate. Propping his chin on his folded arms, the siren slowly swayed his tail in the water as he watched the raven-haired man sleep, all with a reticent, yet sly smile on his ethereal face.


	3. The Pirate

When morning came, Vincent awoke feeling more refreshed and rested than he ever remembered feeling in many years. His body felt boneless where it lay and he was tempted to remain where he was until he suddenly remembered just **what** he had on board his ship. Sitting up quickly, he stared at what resided within the glass confines of the newly installed tank. Since the siren appeared awake now, it probably meant perhaps he wasn't nocturnal like some predatory animals were. Then again, most nocturnal animals didn't sleep in broad sunlight, either. He would have to remember to draw the curtains next time to test when this siren actually preferred to sleep. 

The beautiful siren was floating upside down in the tank, which alarmed the captain until he saw the siren move. Hands now pressed flat against the glass, the silver-haired being now peered at him while the sunlight streamed into the room and through the glass, making the siren appear more like a dream-like vision than a reality. His silver hair shined and his black scales glittered, revealing the silver iridescence of said scales. He was ethereal, a stunning sight that had swam right out of the dream world and into his world, as if to provoke him.

And it did. 

Before he knew it, he was out of the bed and standing before the tank, barely dressed. He had forgotten to grab his robe as he stood before the creature, his sleep pants hanging low on his narrow hips. Vincent was barely aware of this fact and didn't seem to care as he stared into mesmerizing green eyes that made him feel dizzy. With the way the siren was positioned, they were both at face level. Even now, he could vividly remember what that face looked like twisted in ecstasy and how that mouth felt wrapped around him. He even recalled how that body, the body of a godly man, no less, looked astride him, taking all of him so beautifully like that’s what he had been created for. This memory prompted him to glance lower, disappointing him when his eyes were met with the body of a fish and not a beautiful, well-endowed man. 

Obviously, the dream had just been a dream. It hadn't been real. It couldn't have been. There was no water on his floor or in his bed and the siren still sadly retained his half-man, half-fish body. And yet...he could remember a time when another siren, one resembling this one, actually, had changed her form into that of a human woman. He still had his doubts about that fateful night, but how could he deny it when proof of their kind floated right before his very eyes? Perhaps he had met Jenova, but how much of his memory was real? Perhaps he had been drunker than he thought and had merely imagined sleeping with a fish woman.

The pirate captain knew he was just trying to make sense of all this since a good portion of it didn’t make any sense. He couldn't deny that there had been a bargain made since not too long afterwards, he had received his ship, crew, and longevity.  He had not aged a day since that fateful night and he was stronger and more powerful than he could ever had hoped to be as a human man. Perhaps dark magic had been at play and obviously still was. But for what purpose? And this being...was it a relative of Jenova? He didn't know since this was only the second siren he'd ever seen before. For all he knew, this could just be her brother, cousin, or some other relative. Maybe even her son, which meant it could possibly be _his_ son, too. Sephiroth couldn’t be…could he? The thought made him sick to his stomach so he quickly pushed it aside to deal with it later since now he felt ill equipped to. And besides, for all he knew, most of the sirens might typically resemble Jenova.

Quickly redirecting his thoughts, he realized that if Jenova could talk, could understand his language, then it was possible that this male siren could, too. If he could understand and speak Vincent’s language, it was possible that he could get the answers he sought about Jenova and his son. He wouldn’t know unless he tried.

“I don’t know if you can understand me…I don’t know if I’m wasting my time, but my name is Vincent Valentine. I don’t know if you have a name, but I think…it might be Sephiroth,” started Vincent, his own words sounding like a garbled, incomprehensible mess to his own ears. His speech was usually more refined than this, but he found it difficult to think clearly, let alone speak fluidly in the presence of this enchanting siren. Was it his own nerves, or was dark magic at play here? He didn’t know, but he knew whatever it was, it wasn’t normal and it was affecting him in ways he wasn’t comfortable with.

The siren gracefully maneuvered his body until he was no longer floating upside down so that he fully faced the crimson-eyed man. His face was so close to the glass that it nearly pressed against it. With how close they both were, if there had been no glass between them, they would have been barely a breath apart. Although the siren said nothing, there was still distinct recognition in his face at the sound of the name uttered by the pirate captain. There was sharp intelligence shining brightly in those eyes, the kind of intelligence Vincent remembered seeing in Jenova. It was possible that Sephiroth could understand him, but was choosing not to speak. Or perhaps…he couldn’t speak since there was a possibility that this siren was mute. He hoped the latter wasn’t true because then communication would be all that much harder; _however_ , if this Sephiroth was choosing not to speak, that would be a difficult obstacle to overcome, as well.

“Sephiroth. So, that is your name,” said Vincent. The more he said the name, the more natural it sounded to him. It was almost as if he’d known this name for years. But how could that be?

The siren smiled at that without showing teeth, but still kept silent as he watched him, his lacquered black claw-like nails scraping lightly against the glass in what looked like a provocative caress.

“Something tells me your capture, at least, on your part, was on purpose. Your kind have eluded me for many years, and yet…here you are. You didn’t even fight me when I brought you on board my ship. Why is that? What do you want?” Questioned Vincent although he knew his questions would probably go unanswered.

The sound of his first mate's voice seemed to knock him out of whatever daydream he had been in, only to reveal that he had used the solid footholds installed on the glass tank to climb up to the top of the tank. His hands near the edge, ready to press the device that would completely lift up the cover that prevented the siren from jumping out. He was baffled by this since he couldn't recall even climbing up here. He nearly jerked away and fell when he noticed the siren was at the surface of the water, gazing up at him intently through impossibly long, silver eyelashes. 

What was going on here? Had he really just been about to open the cover?  If so, _why_? He didn't remember what had prompted him to nor could he fathom why. Was it really possible for the siren to influence his actions? If Sephiroth could make him do things without him being aware of it or the ability to resist, then he knew that he was in deep shit here. If the siren could control him, it was probable that he could also control Vincent's crew. The dark-haired captain would have to fight harder against this hold and would have to monitor any interactions between the siren and his crew. "What is it?" Called Vincent as he jumped down and snatched up his robe from the end of his rumpled bed, which caused him to pause momentarily. The sight and smell of his bed suggested sex, but that couldn't be right. It had only been a dream...or had it? 

"Capn', we're leaving the port in twenty minutes, " announced Cid from behind the door.

"Very good. I'll be up soon," said Vincent and as he began to turn away, but was halted by something glinting in the streaming sunlight that caught his eye. Striding closer, he leaned over to pick up what looked like an incredibly long, light colored hair. Inspecting it closely, he determined that it was silver in hue. There was only one person on board the  _Chaos_  that had silver hair and it wasn't one of his men considering most of them had dark hair, no hair, or cropped hair. None had silver. Grey or white maybe, but not this unusual color, not even close. Turning away from the bed, he placed his accusing stare on the siren in the tank.

As calmly as he could muster, Vincent asked, "How...did  _this_  get here?"

Lying on his side on the bottom of the tank with his arm helping to prop his head up, Sephiroth smiled, or more like,  _smirked_ , at him as if he knew a big secret the pirate didn't. His tail fin flicked lazily in the water while his free hand idly played with some of his own hair. 

For the first time since his search for Jenova and for sirens, Vincent suddenly realized just how insane this whole situation was. What was he doing? His obsession had quickly turned into something else, something far more crippling and yet, he did not know why. Some of his crew had suggested to kill it, which he just couldn't do, or toss it overboard, which he also had no will to do. All he really knew was that he was already attached to this strange creature, enough for him to feel protective and even dare he say it, _possessive_ of it. But why? How much of what he felt was actually real, though? Was this siren influencing him somehow? If that was the case, then why? What did Sephiroth want from him? 

Vincent didn’t know any of the answers to his questions, but he was determined to find out. For so many years he had sought the truth and he wasn’t about to turn back now.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

_Hours Later_

It was well into the afternoon after the _Chaos_ had set sail on the open sea, away from the port of _Costa Del Sol_. Despite being a bit hung over from the night before, the crew still functioned well enough to carry out the numerous tasks essential for running and maintaining the ship many had branded as demonic. So far, no incidents had occurred, thankfully, but the day was still young and there was plenty that could still go horribly wrong.

Vincent functioned almost like he always did except this time his thoughts were centered on the siren currently located in his stateroom. Not only was he bothered by what had transpired earlier, he was irked by the fact that his newly acquired siren didn’t seem to want to eat anything. No matter what had been thrown in the tank through the small opening in the cover, the siren had tossed it out as if it were poison. From fish, beef, pork, chicken, grain, fruits and vegetables, nothing seemed to appeal to the picky siren. But then again, the captain didn’t know Sephiroth’s diet. Due to the size of the siren, and the impressive musculature, he had assumed that Sephiroth would require a certain amount of protein to sustain himself. So, what did a siren eat? He had to figure it out soon if he wanted Sephiroth to keep up his strength. Although…maybe weakening him a little wasn’t such a bad idea? Still, he didn’t want to starve him, especially after going through so much just to obtain him.

“Maybe the fish man prefers _live_ bait,” suggested Barret after wiping some sweat from his crinkled forehead.

The larger man’s words caught Vincent off guard while he’d been brooding, crimson eyes glaring ahead at the sea. He barely caught any of the words and what he did hear, he repeated, “Live bait?”

“Aye…you know, fresh food, like living animals. Maybe your siren likes to eat his prey while it’s still alive. There are some animals that are like that,” said Barret.

Cid scowled. “Aye, like those damned fuckin’ dragons. I’ve seen them attack and eat cattle alive. It was…” Trailed off the first mate, his face green from the repulsion of the sickening memory.

“Very well. Get someone to catch some fish, Cid,” ordered Vincent after nodding his gratitude to Barret. Hopefully this idea would work, but if it didn’t, he would have to redouble his efforts at communicating with the silent siren. If verbally communicating continued to fail, he would attempt to draw simple pictures on parchment and show it to the siren. He would do whatever it took to get what he wanted, no, _needed_ from Sephiroth.  

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

_Three Hours later_

"I don't mean to doubt yer judgement, Capn', but me and the other men feel uneasy having ya so close to this wild thing," said Cid. He normally wasn't one to stick his nose in Vincent's business, but due to his own personal feelings and his healthy respect for the man, he had to say something. He already felt uneasy being near this creature despite there being a sturdy, covered tank between him and the siren. 

"I was much closer the day before and yet...I am _miraculously_ unharmed," drawled Vincent, his crimson eyes never leaving the idle form of the siren. While he didn't believe Sephiroth would necessarily harm him, he wasn't so certain about what the siren would do to his men and vice versa. He was already hyper aware that Sephiroth usually appeared increasingly annoyed whenever Cid or anyone else was around.  

Barret frowned, but didn't bother to say anything. He was worried, too, but knew better than to step out of place.  

Cid sighed quietly, but didn't dare argue any further, so he climbed up the steps until he was at the top. Once firmly settled, he reached for the bucket Barret lifted up for him to take before placing it on the top of the tank. It was a bucket full of sea water containing an assortment of living fish that had been freshly caught by several of the crew. 

Vincent nodded at Cid, granting him permission to dump the live fish into the tank. The blond man, uneasy to be anywhere near the siren, picked up the bucket and poured the contents into the small opening, which was barely large enough to fit the bucket itself. Once that was done, he climbed down to stand beside Barret to watch what the siren would do next. 

Sephiroth didn't appear impressed. If anything, his stoic face looked irritated as if someone had dumped garbage into his bed. He eyed the fish warily like they were intruders before he whipped through the water like lightning, snatching each fish before tossing each one out through the opening. Each fish he threw out slapped against Cid's face as if the siren had been specifically aiming for him every single time. 

"What the fuck!?" Exclaimed Cid as he rubbed at his wet, reddened face that still stung from each fish that had struck it unceremoniously. The smell of the fish was already sticking to him, making him want to gag. The sad thing was that these fish by comparison smelled much better than Yuffie. Narrowing his blue eyes, he glared balefully at the smirking siren. "Can ya believe that shit?! He looks smug as fuck..." 

Barret appeared amused though he tried his best not to laugh at the blond man's expense. "Guess your pretty pet fish doesn't like other fish or Cid, Captain."

The raven-haired captain watched Sephiroth closely, noting that once again, the siren seemed agitated whenever one of his crew was around. But when it was just him…he seemed far calmer and more likely to cooperate.

“Leave us,” ordered the captain in a low voice, his blood red eyes closely watching the siren staring at the other pirates through narrowed eyes that betrayed how vexed he was by Vincent’s men.

“Yes, Captain,” said the big man with a curt nod. Before Cid could protest, which he looked close to doing such, Barret grabbed the smaller man by the upper arm and physically dragged him out of the stateroom.

Once his men were gone, Vincent picked up a flopping fish before climbing up the tank with it in one hand despite its struggle to wriggle free. When he reached the top, he dropped the fish into the water and peered down to watch what the silver-haired being would do next. Hopefully he wouldn’t throw it at him like he had done to Cid. Despite how serious the situation was, he couldn’t help feeling partially amused by the stubborn siren’s antics.

When Sephiroth did nothing but watch him, Vincent said, “You need to eat, Sephiroth. If you don’t then—“

Vincent’s words were quickly interrupted by the rapid, hard sound of someone knocking at his door. Through the door, he heard Cid urgently exclaim, “Capn’! Ya need to get out here. There’s another ship coming upon us! I think it’s The _Loveless_!”

Peering through his eyeglass, Vincent studied the gaudy looking ship called The  _Loveless_. He'd seen it a few times before in the past, but this was the first time it had actively sought him out. Despite this, he had had the misfortune of meeting the captain of that ship once and that had been more than enough. Flamboyant and over dramatic, Captain Genesis Rhapsodos had been the very portrait of a spoiled, bored rich boy. He had come from a prestigious family, one almost as wealthy and influential as the Shinra family. Both were families Vincent personally enjoyed stealing from.

Being the only son of the Rhapsodos family, he had been allowed to do whatever he wished like any spoiled brat. Feeling rebellious and bored, Genesis had probably woken up one day wanting to play pirate. A lot of children liked to play pretend pirates, soldiers, and robbers, but most didn't actually grow up and become them unless they were drafted or that desperate. The rich often turned to illegal activities when they were bored and could often get away with anything as long as they didn't wrong anyone with power. This meant Genesis could play pirate for as long as he wished as long as he didn't strike Shinra directly. Everyone else was fair game for the most part.

And that gaudy ship. Just looking at it made Vincent's lip curl in disgust. The thing was slow and clunky, and even on its fastest day and the  _Chaos_ ' slowest, the  _Loveless_  still wouldn't be able to catch up. Obviously, the ship had been built to be more of a pretty decoration ( _not that Vincent thought it was pretty, in fact, it was an eyesore to him_ ) than an actual vessel used for travel. It reminded him of those fancy, overdressed carriages carrying people inside them dressed just as pompously. The wigs and the jester-like makeup they wore were just the icing on the cake when it came to their costume like attire that not even street performers would wear. Their fashions were beyond questionable and made Vincent glad he hadn't been born into such a worthless lifestyle. Some of those people actually wore **rat fur** on their _eyebrows_! Thinking of this reminded him of his siren, who had elegant silver eyebrows that matched the rest of him perfectively without the use of fake hair, makeup, or animal parts. Those people would die of envy if they ever laid eyes on Sephiroth. Not that he ever planned on allowing this, of course. 

"What should we do, Capn'?" Asked Cid as he watched the outlandish looking ship from afar. 

Diverted from his thoughts, it took the pirate captain a moment to absorb his first mate's words. "Nothing. He's not going to attack us. I don't know his intentions, but what I do know is he wouldn't risk damaging the _Loveless_. If he persists in following, slow down the ship enough so that he can catch up. Whatever he has to say might be of interest."

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Once back in his stateroom, Vincent came to a sudden halt when he noticed the fish on the floor, along with the water, were all mysteriously gone. Looking at the tank, all he saw was the siren inside it, lying on his side watching Vincent. There was no sign of the fish from earlier or any of the other fish. The only thing still on the floor was the bucket Cid and Barret had left behind in their haste. Where had the fish gone? Had he eaten them? Better yet, how? There wasn't so much as a drop of water on the floor or even a scale left behind. 

"How did..." Vincent began, but trailed off when he realized he would get no answers here. The siren, whether or not he could literally speak, seemed intent on keeping his silence. One thing was certain, though; Sephiroth could understand him. The way he looked at him was indicative of someone actually  _listening_. There was recognition there; Sephiroth didn’t stare at him like a newborn babe or an animal that didn't understand, he stared at him like someone that comprehended what he said. Whatever game he was playing, he wasn't exactly hiding the fact that he could understand what Vincent said now.

Which led him to his next train of thought. Could Sephiroth change his physical form like Jenova had done in the past? Was he actually able to crawl out and _walk_ on human legs? If so, then that would explain why the fish were gone but...it would also suggest that the illicit dream Vincent had had last night had actually occurred. He wasn't certain how he felt about that, especially considering Sephiroth could be his son. He also knew that he should be worried, he should be concerned about what was happening to him. So why didn't he feel as such? Was the siren casting a spell on him to make him feel this way? What he was certain of was that Sephiroth had a strange sort of power over him. Could he possibly fight this hold this hypnotic siren had over him? He couldn’t help thinking his crew were probably right about what he should do with Sephiroth. He should kill him or just toss him overboard, but the thought…felt utterly wrong. Even if Sephiroth wasn’t his son, it just felt wrong.

But what truly frightened him was not the siren’s magnetic hold over him, but the possessiveness he had started to feel since meeting him. Now that he had him in his room on board his ship, he didn’t want to let him go. What would he do with him once he’d obtained all the answers he sought? Would he still keep him? Could he? It was difficult to know what the future would bring to him, to them both, and yet, what he did know was that he didn’t want to harm this siren. And he wouldn’t unless Sephiroth gave him no other choice.

For what felt like the hundredth time, he wondered just what Sephiroth’s true intentions were. The longer he spent in this siren’s presence, the more he was convinced that Sephiroth could leave at any time he so chose to. If this was true, then that meant the male siren was sticking around for something specific, which most likely involved Vincent for whatever reasons. It probably didn’t involve his crew at all since the siren seemed uninterested in them, as if they were merely annoying insects buzzing around. That was a relief to him to believe that; however, he was well aware that if they were proven to be a hindrance, it was possible Sephiroth would lash out at them.

What Vincent did know for certain was that he was quickly tiring of what now felt like a game to him. It was like the silver-haired siren was toying with him or pulling his strings like he was a puppet. It certainly felt that way and he wasn’t willing to let it continue on any longer. But…what if he wasn’t? What if there was a bigger picture here that he just wasn’t seeing yet?

Striding quickly over to the tank, face nearly touching the cool glass, Vincent growled, “Sephiroth, what do you want from me? I know you can understand me. If you can actually speak, then fucking speak, or I’m throwing you overboard. I can’t have you endangering my crew.”

Vincent was bluffing, of course, and hoped the siren didn’t call his bluff. Before his words could even be registered by Sephiroth, the door to his stateroom flew open unceremoniously by his sweaty, panting First Mate.

Before the crimson-eyed man could snarl at the sudden interruption, Cid quickly announced, “Capn’! Genesis is here and he wants to talk to you...about the siren.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~


	4. The Pull

To say that Vincent was annoyed by the sudden interruption was an understatement. It had felt like he had been so close, as if Sephiroth had been just about to communicate with him. The last thing he wanted to deal with right now was a pompous, spoiled brat out playing pirate. It unnerved him to know that Genesis knew about Sephiroth to some extent, thanks to Yuffie or her men blabbing at a tavern. Genesis most likely wanted to take him from him since he knew about the brat’s compulsion to collect rare items and exotic pets no matter the cost. It was likely he wanted to bargain with Vincent for the siren so that he could take him and display him in some gaudy tank in one of his many summer mansions. Vincent could very well imagine Genesis inviting guests over to gawk at Sephiroth and perhaps do other things to him. The thought both angered and sickened him. There was no way in Leviathan he was about to let some brat take _his_ siren. And yes, he was aware that to some extent, he was keeping this mythical creature as a pet himself.

At least Sephiroth seemed annoyed, too. That made him feel slightly better to know that he wasn’t the only one close to grinding his teeth down to the gum. Ripping his eyes away from the siren, he looked to the blond man and ordered, “Cid…tell the boy to wait. And if he tries anything…end him.”

Once Cid had disappeared from view, the pirate captain looked back at the tank and noticed that Sephiroth’s face was looming close to the glass. Stepping closer, Vincent gingerly pressed his hand flat against the glass near his face and nearly stepped back when Sephiroth pressed his own clawed hand against the glass. The siren’s hand seemed to match him, if only a bit thicker. He felt the sudden impulse to take his hand and touch it, to feel how it felt against his hand despite the deadly looking claws that could easily rend his flesh from his bone. Squeezing his eyes shut, he pressed his forehead against the cool glass. The glass barrier separating them annoyed him and he wished it wasn’t there. Vincent was half-tempted to climb the ladder and drop inside the tank, but that was foolish. So utterly foolish. He was being too irrational now and yet…he found he didn’t much care one way or the other. What was this spell the siren had over him? Perhaps his men were right, that this was a bad omen and would likely lead to his death or some other unpleasant outcome. But he couldn’t ignore his desire for the truth, either. If he died, then he died. It wasn’t like he had anything real in his life to live for. Except…

“I will not allow anyone to take you from me,” the captain suddenly vowed out loud although he hadn’t meant to actually utter the words. He didn’t realize he’d said them aloud until he heard a splash. Crimson eyes snapping open, he noticed that Sephiroth had swam to the top of the tank and floated there while looking down at him pointedly.

As if pulled by a rope, he felt his legs suddenly moving as if of their own accord. He was hastily climbing the ladder until he was at the top. Lifting up the tank cover, he jerked back when the siren suddenly lurched out of the water to grip the edge of the tank, his body protruding half way out of the water. He would have fallen if not for the strong hand that had grabbed him by his coat, mindful not to cut him, and pulled him back to safety. Careful not to hurt him, Sephiroth kept himself upright by holding onto the edge of the tank with his left hand while his tail worked to keep him upright. Faces close now, barely inches apart Vincent couldn't breathe, and even if he could, he wouldn’t because he was just so transfixed. It was different somehow compared to how he'd felt around Jenova.  He couldn't place how or why.  It just was. To be this close, sharing breath without the hindrance of glass and water acting as a cruel barrier between them, caused him to tremble almost like a child. What was _this_? 

Whatever thoughts were tumbling around in his head ceased to be when the siren tilted his head before closing the distance between them. Frozen and gripping the edge of the tank, he gasped in surprise when Sephiroth suddenly kissed him. Hard and heady, it was far from innocent and far from sweet though it was ardent in nature that made him feel weak. A powerful mouth, with sharp teeth and a strong tongue, forced his mouth open without nicking his flesh. The siren didn't have to force much since Vincent found himself more than willing to oblige. The hand clamped on the dark-haired man’s shirt released him in favor of threading fingers through his dark, unruly locks before cradling the back of his skull. Using his hold on the back of his head, Sephiroth forced him closer, keeping him there as he devoured his mouth, his long tongue tasting everything that it could reach.

Vincent forgot in the moment that this was half a man, half a mystical creature, and that this might very well be his _son_. It was hard to care, let alone think, when his body was flushed with warmth that quickly warped into intoxicating, mounting desire. It was just a kiss, albeit a very scorching one. He’d kissed plenty of women, including Lucrecia, and all of those experiences paled in comparison to this one. Even the sex with Jenova and the other women couldn’t hold a candle to what it felt like _just_ kissing this male siren. If there had been any blood left in his brain, he most likely would have been brooding over as to why he felt such a way.

A loud banging on his stateroom door followed by the grating sound of Cid’s voice knocked him out of his blissful stupor. Breaking the kiss, he stared at Sephiroth as he panted harshly from a mixture of excitement and lack of oxygen. Feeling light-headed and flustered, he was sure his pupils were blown wide, and his lips swollen and wet. The banging continued, which prompted him to glare balefully at his door right before he remembered that his men and that pseudo pirate captain were waiting for him to make his appearance. How long had he been holed up in his stateroom kissing Sephiroth? It only felt like a handful of seconds, but for all he knew it could have been an hour or more. As much as he was tempted to ignore the world and continue to indulge in this strange, unexpected pleasure, he knew he had to be responsible by facing his rivals and protecting what was his. He owed it to his men, his vessel, and now his siren.

The moment he looked at Sephiroth again had been a mistake because the siren seemed just as aroused as Vincent felt. The things he wanted to do to him made him shake from the sheer voracity of the mounting lust. They were things he’d never wanted to do before to anyone else, especially a man. Then again, the men he tended to be around were dirty, unkempt, and not too pleasing to the eye. Sephiroth was…something else. Man or woman… _fuck_ , even as a half fish, half man, he had the power to corrupt Vincent’s desires and perhaps his actions, as well. To some extent, Vincent was aware of the fact that the things he was feeling were most likely being influenced by this siren. Despite knowing this, he still couldn’t resist imagining what it would feel like to touch and taste this young man’s prick. To spread him apart and taste and fuck every part he could physically manage. If just kissing him felt better than all of his other past pairings, then what would the actual coupling with him feel like? Assuming Sephiroth wanted to go that far with him, that was. Glancing down, he was met with the sight of the siren’s fish-like lower body, dark scales glittering, which sobered him up enough to cool his arousal. He had anticipated seeing the humanoid Sephiroth from his dream and to feel every inch of his supple, muscular flesh above him, against him, and under him. Whether or not it ever happened, could happen, that was, the crimson-eyed man knew he wouldn’t give his siren up without a fight.

“I’ll be back…soon, I promise,” Vincent rasped his promise out as that clawed hand carefully dropped from his person reluctantly. The tilted head and doleful expression on Sephiroth’s face caused a rise of emotion to well up in him. As he climbed down and left his quarters, he couldn’t help but wonder if Sephiroth was just as lonely as he was.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Once Vincent was back up on deck again, he noticed how dark the sky was getting, which meant that it was around dusk. Then he noticed how close  _The Loveless_ was to his  _Chaos_. It meant that Genesis wanted to have a word with him, most likely to trade or taunt him. Sure enough, he spotted Genesis waiting outside on the deck of  _The Loveless_ while bearing a haughty look on his weird looking face. Upon closer inspection, Vincent realized the younger man was wearing  _makeup_ like some little girl's doll, and dressed in some gaudy, overdone colorful outfit that made him look like a strutting peacock at a King’s court. By his side stood another redhead, one bearing a pinched up, unpleasant face that suggested he might be constipated or was just in a sour mood. Vincent couldn’t remember his name, but vaguely remembered him from the last time he’d had the misfortune of crossing paths within Genesis. Vincent was certain that that boy was Genesis' First Mate  _and_  lover. He could tell all this by the way the boy was dressed, much like Genesis, and by the sheer closeness and the protective aura the red-headed boy was giving off in waves. No one stood _that_ close unless there was some sort of physical attachment to the other person. That and he still remembered how the two had barely been able to keep their hands off of one another. It had been sickening at the time. Now… _now_ he was starting to understand it, at least to some extent.

And much like Vincent's crew were, Genesis' men were on deck with him to give him support just in case something went wrong. At least Genesis had done one thing correctly, he’d give him that much credit.

"What do you want," snapped Vincent impatiently. Although he stood stock still, he felt his body shaking slightly with the strain of staying rooted to the spot. It was like someone was caressing and pulling at him, making him feel compelled to leave. He suspected it had something to do with his mysterious siren. The one he felt himself pining to be with again. Even now, he could still taste him in his mouth and feel the ghost-like sensations of lips and hands on his person.

"Oh, such a rude one, you are! I'm doing quite well, thank you for asking!" Laughed the red-headed captain as he glanced around at his own men, who laughed back though it was obviously forced laughter. The men looked nervous. It was clear to him that they weren't with Genesis out of loyalty, which meant they wouldn’t dare die for him. The promise of gold and women could only make men go so far, after all. Love and loyalty was another thing entirely.

Vincent growled, "I'm in no mood for your games,  _boy_." 

"I had hoped your sour demeanor had softened over the years," sniffed Genesis, obviously offended by the other captain's blunt attitude, though he tried to play it off by smiling charmingly. He sighed, "I was hoping you had become more _personable_. Oh, silly me. Alas…it makes me long for civility again."

"A wolf wearing fancy sheep's clothing is about as civil as a rat spreading a plague through a city. Don't speak to me about _civility_ , boy," said Vincent as he remembered how savage and back stabbing nobles could be to each other, to commoners, and especially to foreigners. These same people spoke of civility, of how savage and uncouth savages were, and yet, it was the nobles and their soldiers savagely sweeping through other people's lands, raping, stealing, and killing everything in their wake. From what he could recall, the Rhapsodos and Shinra families were notorious for such things, after all.

Genesis seemed to bristle at the jab. Fool that he was, he was still intelligent enough to read in between the lines. "Whatever you may claim, I had hoped we could be civil and strike a bargain today." 

Vincent said nothing, just stared back since he already had an idea of what the younger captain wanted. Just the idea of it was enough to make him want to impulsively take out his gun and shoot the obnoxious man dead, right in the face. It then struck him in that moment just how possessive he was being, like he _owned_ Sephiroth. Or perhaps, it was the other way around. His obsession to find Jenova or any other siren had quickly morphed into an obsession for Sephiroth. Didn’t he care to know the truth anymore? It felt less important now though it had been his driving force for years now. He’d spent many years striving to get the answers he sought only to discard it for the unbelievable desire that still burned low in his belly, even now. The rational part of himself, whatever was left of it, anyway, knew that he should just toss Sephiroth over board, to end this madness…but that felt downright wrong to him. The hold was just too strong on him and even just thinking about getting rid of him made his chest constrict painfully. There was also the possibility that even if he somehow managed to find another siren, there was no guarantee that the new siren wouldn’t have this strange, hypnotic effect on him, too.

"I was told you have something rare and exotic on board your ship. Dead or alive, _preferably_ alive, of course…I want that siren," continued Genesis after being met with a long, awkward silence and burning crimson eyes he didn't have the fortitude to hold.  

"Nothing on board my ship is for sale or for trade,” curtly stated the dark-haired pirate captain, trying hard not to grind his teeth. He was irritated by everything today, especially by this fool playing pirate; however, he knew better than to let his guard down. Genesis was a pretentious fool, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t cunning or dangerous. If he dared underestimate the younger man, then he would be risking losing something important to him.

Genesis didn’t appear to be surprised or even fazed by Vincent’s blunt answer. In fact, he appeared mildly amused by the older captain as if the crimson-eyed man were a small child that didn’t understand the situation at all. “Is that so? I’m sad to hear it. I implore you to reconsider, as a fellow captain to another. Money is no option, Captain Valentine. In fact, if you would be so willing, I would invite you to one of His Royal Highness’ grand parties. Rufus throws the best parties, really. Men, women… _everything_ you could ever desire, would be available for you to indulge in. We could have a lot of fun, you and I. Very few get invited to partake in these exclusive parties. What say you?”

“Everything but a siren,” drawled Vincent, almost smiling because Genesis wanted to offer him something meaningless to him in return for the _only_ thing he actually wanted, which he presently had in his possession already. Did he really think Vincent was that much of a fool to accept that kind of deal? Most likely, yes. He had another thing coming if he expected Vincent to be stupid enough to throw away something priceless for something he could get anywhere. The raven-haired man then looked around at his men and inquired, “Am I _that_ desperate?”

“Nay, Captain!” Bellowed Vincent’s men in unison, Barret’s deep voice the loudest amongst them all.

The amused expression on Genesis’ face quickly dropped away to give way to one that revealed he felt affronted by the other captain and his cackling crew. He unsheathed his decorative, garish sword and pointed it at Vincent, pale blue eyes narrowed. “I highly suggest you change your mind, Valentine…for I am not leaving here without that creature. Even if I did leave without it, just know that there are _other_ interested parties out there. Other unsavory brigands will come after you and the siren and some, if not all, will not be as considerate as I am being. I could take the creature from you by force, so do not press me.”

Vincent knew that spoiled rich people, especially those born into wealth, were used to getting whatever it was that they desired, after all. He did believe that Genesis would stay and fight, if need be....unless it meant his life. People like him tended to back stab each other while wearing false smiles on their painted, mask-like faces. Pirate or courtesan, Genesis would undoubtedly stoop to dirty measures to obtain whatever it was that he wanted. What this meant for Vincent and his men was that they needed to be even more cunning and ruthless in return.  

Quicker than a blink, Vincent aimed his gun at the redhead next to Genesis and shot him in the chest. The impact of the powerful shot caused the man to fly backwards and hit the deck with a sickening smack. While the red-haired man lay there gasping in shock, blood pooled around him heavily as he bled out from his mortal wound. Shot in the heart, it would only be a matter of seconds or even minutes before he was dead and gone from the world. 

" _Reno_!" Cried Genesis in anguish as he dropped down to his knees, not seeming to care that he was kneeling in the other man’s blood while wearing his expensive trousers. He pawed at the other redhead's face with one hand, unwittingly spreading blood everywhere on pale skin while he tried to staunch the wound with the other. When Reno suddenly stopped breathing, his pale eyes sightless, Genesis immediately froze before he stared at the other redhead in shock and disbelief. Clearly in denial, he shook him violently as if to wake him from his slumber. “Wake up, wake up, damn you! You can’t die! No…no… _no_ …!”

Vincent almost felt a pang of guilt over killing the other Captain's lover. He'd done worse things in the past and really, Genesis had asked for it. The life of a pirate wasn't glamorous nor was it amusing like the rich boy had surely expected it to be. He’d known young men that had decided to try the lifestyle out because of tales they’d heard as children, only to find out it wasn’t at all like the tales had spun it out to be. It was a hard life, filled with violence, pain, and death wherever they sailed. If a captain showed weakness or proved to be too cruel to his crew, then even his own men would turn on him. Vincent had seen it happen before right after his dalliance with Jenova. Captain Veld had been a ruthless captain and in his moment of weakness, his men had turned mutinous on him. His own first mate, Tseng, had taken advantage of his weakness, which had ended with Veld’s abrupt death and Tseng’s new title as Captain. The seas were arduous and ruthless, but the men sailing on them were even more so. "Let that be a warning to you. Threaten me again and that will be you. Now get out of my sight or you and the rest of your men will be joining him in the afterlife..."

A tall, bald man with tanned skin, presumably Genesis’ second-in-command, quickly began barking orders out at the other men since their captain was preoccupied sobbing over Reno’s cooling corpse. His muscular body moved quickly to help when needed and to ensure that everyone was doing their job and not lollygagging around. Within minutes, _The Loveless_ was sailing away quickly in the opposite direction of _The Chaos_.

“Everyone…back to work,” ordered Vincent as he began to turn away, fully intending to return to his stateroom. He swore he could feel the tips of fingers caressing against his skin lightly, making his flesh quiver from both anticipation and pleasure. But before he could get more than a few steps, his blond first mate was blocking his path.

“Capn’, maybe ya should have given him the siren. That thing has been nothing but trouble since we took it on board. I don’t like how it’s affecting ya. That fucking thing clearly has a hold on you, can’t ya see that? If we don’t get rid of it then who knows what will happen next?” Pleaded Cid as he shook his head, his mouth set in an unpleasant scowl.

“I appreciate the concern, as always..but it is unnecessary,” muttered Vincent, still distracted by the sensation of hands, and now a mouth, ghosting against his skin teasingly. It was driving him crazy, reducing him into a flustered mess of flesh that pined to touch back and feel more. If he didn’t get to his room soon, he would surely make a fool of himself in front of Cid and his other men. It was shocking how he could even manage to speak coherently at this point at all.

As if sensing he was about to be dismissed, Cid desperately tried again. “Capn’, you need to lis—”

His first mate’s grating voice was beginning to feel like a large dog barking loudly and continuously in his ears. He was quick to cut the other man off by raising his hand and voice snapping, “— _Enough_. I will hear no more. All that you and the rest need to know is that this siren is mine and will remain on board for as long as I deem fit. That is final.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

As soon as Vincent managed to successfully make it back to his stateroom without any further interruptions, he immediately looked at the tank and was surprised to see the siren was nowhere in sight. Striding closer, he took a closer look and didn’t see Sephiroth anywhere within the tank, but he did notice that the cover of the tank was still open. At his feet, he could see puddles of what looked like water, most likely salt water. Did this mean that the siren had climbed out or…perhaps someone had slipped in and spirited him away while Vincent had been distracted by Genesis? It was possible, though highly unlikely since all his men had been on high alert. Unless…some had betrayed him for gold. He was certain that some of them could accept a bribe to let someone on board the Chaos that shouldn’t be. They were pirates, after all. But then…he remembered that no one could step foot on his vessel without him feeling it. It was _his_ ship, after all.

The theory that one or more of his own crew could have betrayed him for a bribe was credible, though. Someone, well, more than one of his crew, could have crept away to enter his stateroom and wrangle the siren out of the tank and off the ship. And yet, the more he thought about it, the more this theory also seemed unlikely since Sephiroth didn’t seem to like any of his men. His response to them always seemed to be hostile unless Vincent was around with his crew at a good distance away. The siren was strong and deadly even when injured. There was no way any number of them could successfully transport Sephiroth without his assistance. Then again, that banshee of a fisherman had somehow managed to capture the siren with only the help of a couple extra pairs of hands. She was strong, but nowhere near as strong as the men he employed. He also remembered she had claimed the siren had been damaged before she had captured it. None of what he saw and heard didn’t seem to add up in his mind at all. The more he thought about this, about anything that had to do with Sephiroth, the more the questions multiplied until his mind was a twisted, warped mess.

It wasn’t long until he felt the distinct, prickly sensation of being watched. It felt much akin to that time on the dock on that fateful night he’d first encountered Jenova. He’d felt the sensation of being watched then, too. Whirling around with his gun in hand, his jaw nearly dropped to the floor at the sight of a very naked, wet, and familiar looking man lying propped up on his side on Vincent’s bed. His right arm was bent to help support the weight of his head, side of his face in his hand, as he gazed back at the flabbergasted pirate. His left hand trailed fingertips sensually against the bed as if he were touching an actual body, not a mattress. His left hand abruptly stopped in place and it was in that exact moment, though it took a bit longer for it to register in Vincent’s brain, that the ghostlike touches on his person had stopped, as well.

Like a feast splayed out for him to devour, Vincent’s eyes ate up the bounty that was his siren. Crimson eyes trailed from that beautiful face to the lengthy tendrils of wet, silver hair hanging down over the edge of the bed to pool onto the ground. Lifting his eyes from the floor, he looked back at the face too beautiful to belong to a mortal man. Vivid malachite eyes that seemed to glow, watched him with interest as Vincent took in the long, strong, and hairless physique of Sephiroth. Like in that dream, the very dream he still wasn’t sure was a mere dream or reality, the fish-like body was gone, replaced by the genitals and legs of a well-endowed human man. He felt nailed to the spot, his arms hanging uselessly at his sides even though he desperately wanted to reach out and touch what his eyes were riveted by. The familiar heat from before churned in his belly once again before spreading like fire to every part of his body.

“Looking for someone?” Purred the siren, his voice deep and low as it dripped with what sounded like sin, making Vincent shudder as his hand slowly released its grip on his gun, which clattered loudly to the floor. In the back of his mind, he was vaguely aware that this was the same voice he had heard from his erotic dream.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 


	5. The Bounty

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Whatever switch in Vincent’s brain that normally assisted him in thinking seemed to suddenly shut off the moment the male siren uttered actual words that he could understand. Like a man possessed, he stalked forward towards the taller man, his boots thumping abrasively against the wood, making the stateroom echo with his impure intentions. There were no concrete thoughts in his head as he strode forth; there was only the impulse to fulfil his need. Even if he could coherently form thoughts in his brain, he still wouldn’t have been able to resist this, to resist him. He was a weak, selfish man that wouldn’t dare deny himself what he wanted, no, _needed_. It felt like need…like the primal need that if he didn’t lay with this mesmerizing man right now, then he would surely not survive this thrall.

Before Vincent could swoop down and touch the other man, Sephiroth was already standing up to meet him. Not wasting anymore time, Vincent grabbed the siren by the face with both hands and kissed him hard and deep, his mouth working hard to devour him. The taller man jerked his face away, breaking the smoldering kiss and the pirate’s hold on his face. Confused by the siren’s actions, the pirate captain blinked stupidly while he panted harshly, his rough breaths seeming to match that of the siren’s, who was clearly quite _affected_ by the kiss, judging by the quick downwards glance Vincent gave him.

Narrowing his vivid malachite colored eyes, Sephiroth growled, “Not yet. First…” Before he reached out and began literally ripping and jerking the slighter man’s clothes off from his body. Chest and abdomen bare for him to see, Sephiroth turned and shoved the dark-haired man onto his back on the bed. It took him less than a minute to pull off each boot before yanking off the tedious pants. Ignoring the tearing sound, his hungry, determined gaze never left Vincent. Quickly climbing over him, he straddled his stomach and began to reach behind him to take the pirate’s fully hardened cock in hand.

Lying on his back, Vincent felt like the air had just been knocked out of him. As if paralyzed from head to toe, he watched as his clothing was ripped from his body. He didn’t make a move until he suddenly felt a hand wrapping around his sensitive manhood. Hissing, he started to say, “What—" but was quickly silenced by a hand cupping over his mouth.

“—Be silent,” hissed the siren, looking frustrated for a second before it passed as quickly as it had appeared. Removing his hand from the pirate’s mouth, he leaned over, hair spilling over his shoulders and sweeping forwards to tickle the skin of the other man’s exposed chest and stomach. The crimson-eyed man was too distracted to realize that Sephiroth’s previously wet hair was now dry and silky to the touch. Face looming near Vincent’s, the siren claimed, “I can give you what you want, Vincent. Just ask it of me…and it will be done.”

Something about this moment felt so eerily familiar; it was like a bad case of déjà vu for the raven-haired man. Because he was too distracted by the other man, he found it increasingly difficult to think with each ticking second. “Just what is it that you think I want?” Slowly inquired Vincent as he saw in his mind’s eyes the memory of that dream of Sephiroth he’d had not too long ago. The dream had felt so real and like the dream, Sephiroth was pretty much in the same position and yet…right now, even though nothing was really happening, the real thing felt much better. Unable to help himself, he trailed his hands up the long, muscular thighs of the irresistible man only to have both of his wrists seized in a vice-like grip without hurting him. “What are you—”

“Make your choice. Fish or man. I cannot decide that for you,” stated Sephiroth, his body shaking a bit as if he were anxious about something or perhaps he was merely straining from the effort to hold himself back. “Hurry, we don’t have long…”

Partially aware that he was being spoken to, Vincent nodded even though he didn’t completely know what he was agreeing to. Darkened eyes trailed up the length of the other man’s body, pausing for a moment to stare in fascination at the long, thick cock that curved upwards, begging to be touched. He could see smears of pearlescent fluid on the taller man’s white stomach and couldn’t help the sudden impulse to taste it, to know what a _man_ actually tasted like. He would have, too, if not for the strong hands currently holding his hands captive.

Releasing one wrist, the siren anchored his free hand to the other man’s jaw and forced him to look up into his face. Thumb stroking over barely parted lips, he commanded, “ _Focus_ , Vincent. Do you want me as a man…or as a siren?”

Vincent’s eyebrows drew together because the question confused him since it could have multiple meanings. It was difficult to think now that his defenses had been crumbled away almost completely. Whatever last vestige of defense that remained within him was nothing but a small pinprick of starlight in a universe of endless darkness. All he knew was that he needed something to happen and to happen _soon_. The desire within his mind and his body was threatening to burn him to nothing but ash and cinder if he didn’t fulfil it soon. Whatever doubts he’d had, whatever resistance was left, was dominated completely by this overwhelming need to touch, taste, and _feel_ Sephiroth. Whatever the siren meant by his cryptic question, the pirate believed that whatever it truly was, his answer would ultimately be the same. Sephiroth was strikingly beautiful in both of his forms; however, the only form he seemed able to communicate in was the one bearing legs. In the back of his mind, legions of questions still existed, and though his brain bore little power over him presently, he was aware enough to know that he still wanted to actually talk _afterwards_. If he survived this deadly siren, that was.

Shuddering from the multitude of conflicting feelings and scattered, racing thoughts, Vincent finally answered, “A man…”

What happened next seemed to be a wild blur of sensation and motion overtaking Vincent as hands were suddenly everywhere while a mouth seemed to suck the life out of his own. When Vincent tried to sit up, he was pushed back down by his chest. Sitting back up, Sephiroth slowly rocked his hips like an exotic dancer attempting to tantalize a voyeur. A muscular, round backside ground against his groin torturously, making Vincent hiss and latch his hands onto flexing hips that seemed hell bent on tormenting him.

Movement threw Vincent’s fervent gaze to Sephiroth’s hand quickly pumping his own cock with precise, nearly clinical jerks. Each pump of his hand eased out copious amounts of a clear fluid that looked a bit different from the essence of a man’s seed. Quickly swiping some off with the fingers of his right hand, the captain brought it to his mouth to tentatively taste it with his tongue. Bracing himself for something bitter or foul, he was shocked when it tasted sweet, almost like watered down honey. It also felt more viscous compared to how Vincent’s own semen felt on his hand whenever he masturbated.

Within moments, Vincent was soon distracted by the feeling of a slicked hand coating his cock presumably with the siren’s own secretions. The pirate’s hips bucked from the unexpected touch, craving more contact until one hip was quickly clamped by a strong hand and pinned down to control his movements. Groaning low in his throat, Vincent watched with hooded eyes as Sephiroth’s bent legs lifted his own body up while his free hand remained wrapped tightly around the captain’s dick. It didn’t sink in what the siren was actually doing until he felt the head of his own cock being engulfed by something tight and hot that spasmed around him almost uncontrollably. Breath wedged in his throat, his body arched as much as it physically could while he felt the other man sink down onto him until Sephiroth was fully seated on him.

Releasing a shuddering, deep breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, the dark-haired man screwed his eyes shut tight as he fought for control to not come prematurely. He felt like an adolescent boy again, experiencing sex for the very first time when he should have been working. In a way, this was a first time for him and knowing that only made the experience all that much hotter for him. He was grateful for the fact that the man straddling him had ceased all movement as if sensing that the captain needed time to adjust. Or maybe they both did. That thought caused Vincent to blink open his lust darkened eyes to look up at the silver-haired siren. Long-lashed eyes were closed, eyebrows drawn together in concentration, lips parted, and head slightly tilted back, Sephiroth looked for all the world to be in a state of nirvana. Watching him with rapt fascination as he ignored his own throbbing need, it then occurred to the slighter man that perhaps this was Sephiroth’s first time with a man, as well.

" _Beautiful_ ,” rasped Vincent, who hadn’t realized he’d spoken until malachite green eyes snapped open to peer down curiously at him.

“Speaks the one who can calm a mighty storm _and_ make the moon weep,” uttered Sephiroth in a low voice drenched with desire. His sensual lips stretched in a smirk that seemed to reflect the wickedness flickering in his hypnotic green eyes. Shimmying his hips a tiny bit, as if to tease the other man or to test the sensation, Sephiroth braced his hands against the shorter man’s chest, fingers curling as he rolled his hips very slowly before stilling completely again.

Grunting from the unexpected, yet welcome movement, Vincent felt the mounting need to  _move_. He intended to wait until Sephiroth was ready, but with each passing moment, he struggled harder with himself not to grab onto the taller man’s hips and pound away. If they didn’t start soon then he feared he’d shove Sephiroth off, turn him around, and fuck the majestic right out of him until he was nothing but a whimpering mess.

As if reading Vincent’s mind or sensing his swelling need, the siren decided to take pity on the crimson-eyed man writhing beneath him impatiently. Using his strong thighs to raise himself, Sephiroth began to rock his body up and down in a fast, erratic tempo that evened out once he, along with the pirate captain, found a rhythm that they were both more than happy with. Vincent immediately latched both of his hands onto the siren’s hips again, fingers digging into flesh with each thrust up into the taller man’s body. If it bothered Sephiroth, he didn’t show it, nor did he force the other man’s bruising hands off from his body. If anything, Vincent’s roughness seemed to further arouse and spur on the male siren, making him bounce harder and faster as both men seemed to exchange each other’s moans and gasps with every undulation of Sephiroth’s body.

Watching the siren throw his head back and expose his throat after a particularly sharp, hard jab to his prostate, Vincent sat up quickly to kiss and bite at that long, strong neck that was beaded with sweat. His voracious mouth felt the vibration of Sephiroth’s moans as he raked his nails up and down the long expanse of the taller man’s back. Suddenly pushing him down flat on his back, Vincent forced the other man’s legs apart before ramming back into his ass. Hooking his arms under Sephiroth’s knees, he used them as leverage while he rocked his hips with wild abandon, plunging in and out ruthlessly while wicked nails raked trails of welts into the pale skin of his back.

Claiming that open mouth, Vincent ravenously ate the siren’s moans and screams as he fucked him, the pace and strength of his merciless thrusts quickly increasing as the impulse to come drew dangerously close. Kissing back just as greedily, Sephiroth snaked a hand down to squeeze and grip at a flexing buttock as he rocked his own body to meet each plunge meant to split him in two, or so it probably felt like to him.

Whatever was happening outside the stateroom, Vincent didn’t know or give a single fuck about. In the here and now, all he could do was concentrate on the exquisite, all-consuming sensations that the other man was wringing out of him without fail. With every lurch into the hot depths of that spasming orifice, Vincent felt like he was burning pleasantly from the inside out. While he wasn’t new to the arena of sex, this entire experience felt quite different compared to all the other times he’d coupled with women in the past. All those times with women paled in comparison to _this_ experience and why it did, he just didn’t know. It just felt hotter, better, and more euphoric than he remembered sex ever being for him. Sephiroth was all hard angles and silky muscle that rippled with undeniable strength and power. There was nothing soft or gentle about this siren; nor was there anything submissive about him to indicate that he was a woman or a lesser man. Even as he rode Vincent’s cock like he’d been born to do it, he was still a real man through and through. Even in his lustful state, the captain couldn’t deny this truth.

And yet, what Vincent realized most of all, was that _this_ just felt…right. Like he was meant to do this all along, as if he had been waiting his entire life for this alluring siren to seduce him. Whether this was real or just another fever dream inspired by his obsession, he would just enjoy it while he still could. Vincent would just take it and go with it no matter what happened, and for once, he wouldn’t plague himself with countless maddening questions that seemed to bear no answers to. Mind blissfully blank, he didn’t even think when he felt their positions soon changing.

When Sephiroth had him on his hands and knees, he didn’t even think to resist or protest when he felt fingers and tongue opening him up to receive something larger. And when he ultimately felt the siren breaching him, owning him completely in a way that _only_ a man could, all Vincent could do was claw at the sheets, shove back, and wantonly moan Sephiroth’s name.

 

  

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

As Vincent was about to pass out from several strenuous rounds of backbreaking, yet satisfying lovemaking, he felt the distinct presence of an intruder on board his ship. Jerking upright, he lunged out of the bed despite his sore, protesting muscles and hastily searched for some pants that hadn’t fallen prey to the insatiable siren. As he jerked his pants on, grimacing at the feeling of fluid leaking out of his ass, he noticed a _still_ naked Sephiroth heading towards the door. “Where are you going?”

Sephiroth peered over one shoulder at Vincent, his beautiful face now closed and grim, a stark contrast to how open and warm it’d been just minutes before. “ _She’s_ here.” And then he was opening the stateroom door and striding out as if he wasn’t currently buck naked covered in love bites and bodily fluids.

Forcing his pants closed and grabbing his gun, he hurriedly followed after the departed siren only to stop dead in his tracks when he noticed the grisly splatters of blood decorating the walls and deck of his ship. Several of his men were lying dead on the ground in pools of their own blood with their heads decapitated _and_ missing. Wherever their heads were, he didn’t know, but what he did know was that he needed to protect Sephiroth.

When Vincent had finally caught up to the other man, he discovered him standing frozen in place, his body language screaming that he was distressed by something. Stopping at his right side, the crimson-eyed man noticed that Sephiroth’s bright eyes were unblinkingly locked on something located up in the main mast. Following his gaze upwards, he was greeted by a sudden blur of silver and white. The thud of something hitting the deck startled the captain, making him swiftly lift his arm to aim his gun at the naked form of a… _woman_?

Standing barely fifteen feet away from the pair of men was a very familiar looking, pale-skinned woman who greatly resembled Sephiroth. The sound of something dripping caused Vincent to glance down at the noise. From her small hands dripped blood, the very blood she seemed to be saturated in. It was the blood of his crew, no doubt.

 _That_ face. He could never forget that smug face, not even after close to a century had passed. It was strange how he couldn’t remember the faces of his deceased relatives and friends, and yet…he still somehow managed to remember her face. Was it due to his own obsession with her, her kind, and the curse? He didn’t know. Perhaps he had been meant to remember as a way to rub salt in the wound. And it did. To not remember the faces of his dead loved ones was tragic enough. But to remember this wench’s cruel, yet hauntingly beautiful face? That was quite fucking cruel indeed and it pissed him off even more than he already was. She had taken many things from him and now she had taken his crew, too. What more was the wretch planning to take from him? Vincent gripped his gun harder while he balled up his free hand in a tight fist that shook from his barely restrained anger. He didn’t know if anyone else on board was alive hiding somewhere unscathed or injured. By the sound of the silence, he feared the answer.

Bright green eyes were locked on Sephiroth, completely ignoring the pirate captain as she stared at the male siren intently as if expecting something from him. Parting her lips, she spoke with an icy, pitiless voice Vincent had never been able to forget. “My son…”

By the tense, agitated look on the male siren’s face, he appeared to be about as happy to see her as Vincent was. Jaw tight, Sephiroth managed to grind out, “ _Mother_.”

 

 ~*~*~*~*~*~


	6. The Heartbreak

Several minutes of tense silence passed between mother and son as they both attempted to stare the other down. The initial look on Jenova’s face when Sephiroth didn’t immediately submit to her will seemed to be one of surprise, which meant that she was used to him obeying her. Until now, that was. Despite this thought, Vincent still couldn’t help feeling like an interloper, like he was intruding on something he wasn’t meant to witness.

“You did not have to kill his crew,” hissed Sephiroth as he ended their pointless staring contest to glance around at the death that surrounded them. Despite his own less than clean, nude state, he appeared repulsed by all of the blood and gore splattered obscenely around them. As an afterthought, probably spoken more to himself, he muttered, “They were irritating, yes…but they did not deserve _this_.”

Jenova tilted her head, appearing slightly puzzled by the male siren’s attitude as if she just didn’t understand it. Taking a moment to stare at a disemboweled man, her face bored as she did so, as if she were staring at a piece of driftwood, she simply stated, “They were in my way…”

“What the fuck are you doing on _my_ ship,” growled Vincent, rage boiling under the skin now that the numbness he’d felt seemed to have dissipated completely in favor of raw, potent emotion. This she creature had the sheer nerve to sneak onto his ship, slaughter his crew, and then flaunt her lack of empathy in their faces. He was beyond pissed off now, so much so that he visibly shook from it. The captain wanted answers, yes, but it was difficult to patiently wait for them when all he wanted to do was to pull the trigger and send this psychopath to the underworld. This same psychopath that had tricked him, had cursed him with this wretched life he had, and had taken everything from him, was finally in front of him after all these years. As confounding as it was to finally see her again, it was even more staggering to him to know that she’d taken his seed and had created…this insanely beautiful man that stood by his side. Turning his head to look at Sephiroth’s face, his eyes roved over his fine, humanlike features to note that they seemed to share some similar facial features, like the same exact nose that was obviously a Valentine trait. Even though he couldn’t clearly remember the faces of his deceased relatives, Vincent still knew _that_ nose was a family trait. Which meant, this was the same young man he’d _just_ …no, **no** , he couldn’t afford to dare think about it right now. He desperately needed to focus himself, to reel in his anger before it was too late. If he didn’t, he’d lose his head and possibly his life considering the dire situation that they both were in. He reminded himself that Jenova had boarded his ship without invitation, had killed his crew without a second thought, and seemed to feel no remorse for it. Because of these facts, Vincent knew that he needed his wits about him if he intended to survive this night.

The silver-haired woman turned her head to finally acknowledge Vincent, as if she’d forgotten he had been standing there in the first place. Without taking her icy, calculating eyes off of the pirate captain, she nonchalantly inquired, “Sephiroth…why haven’t you _consumed_ him, yet?”

 _Consume_? What exactly did that mean? He could think of a few things it could mean, both good and bad things, but knowing Jenova, it was far more likely to be something unpleasant. Vincent narrowed his wine red eyes even more as he glared coldly back at the female siren. He may have longevity and this ship because of her, but he wasn’t about to take any shit for her on _his_ ship. If she expected him to accept his fate by looking down at the ground like some meek little servant girl before a pompous lord, then that conniving she creature had another thing coming to her.

“Oh, but I have…and it was _divine_ , Mother,” answered Sephiroth, momentarily eyeing Vincent from the corner of his eye, his lips pulled slightly into a barely there smile as if he were sharing a private joke with the other man. His left hand twitched at his side, fingers curling at his naked side as if he desired to reach out and touch the older man.

The crimson-eyed man had to suppress a shudder from the heat of that piercing gaze. It was difficult to remember to feel disgust at the memory of what they’d recently done together, when that captivating man was looking at him just like _that_. The desire for the pirate captain seemed to still linger there, the flames still burning brightly. Vincent felt an intense rush of relief flood throughout him to know that whatever they’d shared together, seemed to still be present in Sephiroth. Despite this messed-up situation and their possible relation by blood, he desperately needed to know, or at least to hope that there might be a future for them both, _together_. Gods, he really hoped so because even now, in lieu of his crew’s grisly deaths and Jenova’s unwelcome appearance, he _ached_ for Sephiroth. This mesmerizing man was the one bright spot in his life and the one thing that actually made him happy to wake up every day now. Before this man had entered his hollow, tortuous life, every waking hour had been dedicated to his obsession with Jenova and the sirens. He had sailed the world for over eighty years a walking corpse with a fractured soul and deadened heart. He’d been able to push on all these years because he had thought he’d had purpose, that he would someday find the answers to his questions. While Vincent had legitimately wanted the truth, he knew deep down inside that what he had truly been after, was pure revenge. It was such a sad, tiresome thought to him now, to think he’d wasted so much energy on such an empty, pointless endeavor.

“And yet…he still stands here, in one piece,” pointed out Jenova with a sniff as if she felt slighted by the fact that Vincent still lived. Her eyes narrowed as she continued to stare at her son, clawed hands clenching into fists at her naked sides. “There is still time, but it is fleeting, Sephiroth. You know what you **must** do.”

The thought of what Jenova wanted of Sephiroth chilled him straight to the bone. Whatever it was that she expected Sephiroth to do, it was supposed to be done to Vincent and it sounded brutally violent. Was her aim to have Sephiroth murder him? If so, for what reason? He had suffered all these years, longing for death, only to have it taken from him. But now, she wanted him dead? Why? There was obviously something more at play here, something obviously sinister in nature. Due to his inebriation and youth, he hadn’t known any better regarding the female siren all those years ago. If he had, he would have run away from this devilish woman instead of letting her crawl on top of him to take what she wanted from him. But he knew better now, and he wasn’t about to fall for any more of her underhanded tricks. He couldn’t help hoping that Sephiroth was a wiser young man than Vincent had ever been.

“I have already done what I needed to do. The _Bargain_ has been made and there is nothing more to do on my part, or on his,” stated Sephiroth while he used two fingers to swipe off some semen from his abdomen before he held the two wet digits up for the female siren to see, as if it were the true physical evidence that proved his claim.

 _Bargain_? Vincent frowned at this, wondering what Sephiroth was even talking about. He couldn’t remember ever making any sort of deal with the male siren. When had _that_ happened? Before tonight, Sephiroth hadn’t uttered one word to him, unless one counted that illicit dream, that wet dream he still couldn’t ascertain whether it had been real or not.

Head tilted back, and chin pointed at them in disdain like a typical Noblewoman, Jenova’s callous green eyes were thin slits by the time Sephiroth had finished speaking. As if in the mood to kill, her hands unclenched, fingers spreading apart and curling as her nails lengthened to twice their normal length. Fingers twitching, it was clear the female siren was royally pissed off and losing patience rapidly. “I do not care what little game you have been playing at, Sephiroth. You have been tasked with a great endeavor, one of dire importance that I fully intend to make certain you carry out on your end. Whether you like it or not, you have been graced with a divine privilege granted to too few. The time to do your task is now, while the _Siren’s Moon_ is still luminous in the night sky. Do not fail me, boy. You are the great hope, the chosen one of our people.”

“Again, I will state that I have made a bargain with my father. He has made his choice and so have I. My role now in your desperate scheme is null and void. The Bargain has been made…there is nothing you can do about it,” stated Sephiroth, his voice slicing like a sharp blade. Like his mother, he was quickly losing his patience, too. It was fairly easy to conclude that he wasn’t fond of Jenova, so much so that it seemed difficult for him to control his repulsion towards her. Eyes still fixed on the female siren, he reached his left hand for Vincent’s right hand to lace their fingers together, an unexpected gesture that made the pirate captain flinch. As if asking for strength or providing comfort to Vincent, or perhaps a mix of both, Sephiroth squeezed the captain’s hand.

Holding another man’s hand like this had never been on Vincent’s bucket list, but now that he felt the other man’s hand in his, it felt strangely right, like it was something he’d been missing all of his solitary life. This simple, yet intimate gesture had such a profound effect on him that if he were on dry land, he probably would have attempted to bolt away because it both excited and petrified him. He had no inkling to what the future would bring him, _if_ he even had a future at all. However, what he did know, was that he felt less empty inside now that he finally had someone at his side and most likely on his side, too. At the same time, he was faced with an uncertain future with a male siren he barely knew. A lot of Sephiroth still remained a mystery to him; a frightening and exhilarating mystery he was torn about whether he should just boldly delve into or cowardly run away from. After all, it was far easier to just drop everything and go than to face the unknown. But was that truly it? Could he really just drop everything now? He’d spent nearly a century looking for Jenova and her sirens, both of which were largely unknown to him in several ways. So that couldn’t be it, no. It wasn’t the fear of the unknown that made him want to leave. It was… _rejection_. He feared rejection the most. Lucrecia had left him, as had many others in the past, but her rejection had hurt the most because he felt he had loved her. It stood to reason that Sephiroth would leave, too, after attaining what he wanted. But…but what if what Sephiroth wanted was what Vincent wanted? Could he dare to hope that maybe there was more at work here than some siren’s spell? Could there be more, could there be love between them despite all the odds stacked against them? He couldn’t exactly discover that if he received cold feet and ran away without finding out the truth. Vincent would have to stay the course to find out where this led, if it led anywhere at all. Making up his mind to stay the course, he then squeezed the younger man’s hand back to silently show his support and to give him what strength he could. Hopefully, it helped.

And it did help. A moment later, Sephiroth was speaking again, his confidence and determination stronger than ever as he ground out, “My seed will bear no fruit since I have taken the form of a man. Even if I were to devour him now, I would still be _infertile_. I am useless to your cause now. You and all your desperate females will have to find someone else to fuck.” Extending his arm out towards the sea, palm facing up, he declared, “I am not the chosen one, I am not the hope of _your_ people anymore. I cannot and will not, give you what you want…so just fuck off already.”

The next few moments were a crazy blur for Vincent. Before he could open his mouth, let alone think one single thought, both sirens were already jetting in motion. He didn’t even know who had made the first move, just that it had happened so suddenly. All he could do was watch as the two humanoid whirlwinds clashed again and again, raring movement too fast for his eyes to keep up with, though he desperately tried to anyway. Right hand curling in the empty air by his side, he couldn’t help realizing just how cold and empty his hand felt without Sephiroth’s warm hand in it. With that thought, a very real fear filled him to the brim of his being: Sephiroth could _die_. Vincent knew that he had to do something, anything, but what? What could he do? He couldn’t dare risk shooting the wrong siren. _Fuck_ , he was stuck, and he knew it. He would have to wait until the opportunity presented itself. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too late by then.

What was actually minutes felt like hours to Vincent as he stood there apprehensively watching the fight with his gun aimed. As the time passed, his right arm began to ache from the strain of holding the heavy weapon up at such an angle in the air, but he didn’t pay any mind on that since most of his focus was on the fight. Although he couldn’t really see it, he could hear the unmistakable sound of heavy, violent blows connecting and being blocked, which indicated neither angry siren was holding back at all. Their blurs of movement started to become more visible to his eyes and he didn’t know why at first until he realized both sirens were probably tiring from such strenuous, energy guzzling activity. This proved to be true when he saw the obviously male form of Sephiroth flipping in the air to land on one of the masts, his chest heaving as his perspiring body worked to heal several of what thankfully looked to be minor slashes to his body. Jenova followed suit by landing on the other mast, her physical condition not much different in comparison to that of her son’s.

Whipping her long silver hair behind her out of her face, the female siren venomously spat out, “You have improved greatly, that much is clear…however, you are still no match for me, Sephiroth. To think you could have sired strong children…is such a waste and an insult to you, to me, and to our dwindling race. After  _everything_ I did to create you, to groom you… **this** is how you dare repay me?”

“Creating life does not grant you possession of said life. All you had to do was raise me, but you couldn’t even do that. You speak of all the things you did for me when in reality…all you did was ride his dick, _which, by the way, belongs to me now_ …and then birth me,” hissed Sephiroth as he glared spitefully at the source of all his obviously pent up anger and hatred. Jenova’s fury seemed to be nothing compared to Sephiroth’s, that much was clear to the pirate captain as he silently observed them. Vincent couldn’t help shivering a bit in arousal at the unexpected possessive declaration. It took him several distracted moments to figure out that he had a clear enough shot at Jenova before he realized that he couldn’t even pull the trigger. Something was telling him to wait. Perhaps he knew instinctively that Sephiroth needed this moment to vent. Or maybe, something else was at play and wasn’t allowing him to interfere. The latter thought chilled him to his core, to know that he could possibly be paralyzed now.

“I was alone for most of my life. I had to fend for myself for many years…when _you_ should have been there for me. You should have been there to guide me, to protect me. But you were not, and you did not. You forsook me until it was time to ‘groom’ me for a role I did not want any part in. It was then that you chose to conveniently show up…because you wanted something from me. You wanted my freedom, my choice, and my life…as if I owed all that to you, just because you gave birth to me. To give you what you desire most, no...I would rather _die_ ,” bitterly continued Sephiroth, his eyes then momentarily drifting down to Vincent. His angry visage softened a bit as he briefly gazed at the dark-haired man, as if silently telling him that everything would be all right even if it really wouldn’t be in the end. Looking back at Jenova, face stoic, but no longer etched in hatred, he stated, “I was fully prepared to die. I resigned myself to it…but now, I choose to live. I have something to live for and it has nothing to do with you.”

Of everything he’d heard so far, hearing that Sephiroth had been alone all these years, was the hardest truth to hear. It was difficult to swallow down that this impressive man, once a defenseless child, had endured being all alone in these wild waters without someone there to protect him. He could easily picture it, a child desperately fighting to survive every bleak day and night in a cold, watery world. If it was anything like the world out on dry land, then it had definitely been brutal and unforgiving. Vincent had been lucky, extremely lucky. He had had parents and siblings to look after him, to love and be there for him whenever he had needed them most. Although his memories were mostly blurred images in his mind, the feelings were still lurking there, stubbornly refusing to leave him be. Although as a young man he had chosen to leave his family in the end for a pirate’s life, he’d still left knowing what having a loving family had once felt like. Their names and faces might be forgotten to him now, but the way they’d made him feel,  _still_ made him feel, would never fade away completely. The dark-haired man had thrown it all away for things he now regretted having. He was the one to blame for his own choices, for leaving his family and joining Veld’s crew. And that fateful night, that dreadful night he hated to remember…he knew it had been his own damn fault. Even if he hadn’t been completely sober at the time, he had still agreed to Jenova’s Bargain. He could have walked away, but he hadn’t. Unlike Sephiroth, Vincent had been an adult fully capable to survive on his own. But Sephiroth…Sephiroth hadn’t been granted the same liberties. Despite not knowing if Jenova had successfully conceived a child or not, he had still known there had been a possibility. Instead of trying to actively look for his own child, Vincent had selfishly focused on enjoying himself before he chose to focus on revenge _after_ realizing he’d been cursed. It might as well be deemed deliberate on his part like Jenova’s neglect and abandonment had obviously been. He had failed to search for him and in the end, Sephiroth had been the one to find Vincent and what had Vincent done? He’d wound up obsessing over and _fucking_ his own son without much thought. Yeah, he’d done it and the saddest part of it all, was that he didn’t feel that he truly regretted the sexual acts they’d done not even an hour ago. Yeah, he felt like shit about it, but he did not actually regret it. What kind of a fucked-up, sick bastard was he? Such distressing thoughts continued to fill Vincent up with a bottomless well of sorrow and guilt that quickly became dominated by cold, hard rage. It was harder to tell who he was more enraged by, himself or Jenova. In reality, he knew that it probably didn’t matter, at least, not in this precise moment. The only thing that mattered right now was protecting Sephiroth and trying to do right by him, if that was at all possible. Regardless of whether it was too late or not to try, he would still make an attempt.

Whatever cool breeze had been circulating throughout the night, had seemed to suddenly stop while the three figures stood motionless and staring almost as if they were at a standstill. It was gravely silent save for the strained, shallow breathing of tense people and the gentle rocking of small waves against the ship. What felt like days, but was actually mere minutes, passed until one of them chose to snap the stretched silence.

“Leave now…or I _will_ kill you. Don’t make me do it,” warned Sephiroth, his voice wavering a bit in the end, barely noticeable, but Vincent still caught it.

The pirate captain then realized that in spite of Sephiroth’s clear anger and hatred, he was still reluctant to kill his own mother. It was one thing to say it and to want to do it, but in the end, actually doing such an act was far more difficult to carry through. It was also possible that Sephiroth might have never taken a life before, unlike Vincent who had killed more people than he cared to admit to. Whatever the true reason was behind his reluctance, the older man knew that Sephiroth shouldn’t be the one to do it.

“I will not leave without you,” promised Jenova, sounding as distracted as she appeared in that moment. Eyes unfocused, she stared at nothing as she mumbled under her breath before snapping out of whatever temporary stupor she’d been in. Focusing her determined gaze back on the male siren, she firmly stated, “Infertile or not, you are coming back with me. You belong with your people, after all, even if…you cannot save us from our plight.”

“No, you are wrong. The choice is mine to make, Jenova. I am staying here with him, if he permits me to, that is,” disagreed the silver-haired man with a small shake of his head. “Even if wants me to leave, I will not return with you now or ever again. That you must come to accept.”

Vincent felt his chest constrict at the mere mention that he might reject and turn Sephiroth away. Although his own thoughts and emotions were a twisted mess, he still knew that he could never, and would never, force Sephiroth to leave him. Indolently lowering the barrel of his gun at the deck, he looked up at the beautiful male siren, speechless from the overwhelming onslaught of emotions he couldn’t even begin to place names to. He should say something, _anything_ …but, he just couldn’t form the words.

As suddenly as Sephiroth had entered his life, he’d come to spirit away all of Vincent’s focus and energy, quickly taking Jenova’s place in the captain’s possessed mind. It was surreal to him that he’d spent so long obsessively searching for Jenova, only to ignore her in favor of her son, _their_ son. Gods be damned, he had really screwed up here on several levels in regard to the younger man and there was no changing that. Vincent had so many regrets, so many piled up like corpses from a plague, to the point that most people wouldn’t have even bothered to get out of bed to face the next day. And yet, the truly most screwed up part about it all was: he didn’t regret a single intimate moment between him and this man. Perhaps he was just trying to rationalize it, make it all okay, but right now, he just couldn’t find the heart to regret a single kiss or touch.

“Then I shall make it so…that  **all** you have, is _me_ to return to,” muttered Jenova as if she were talking only to herself, which she most likely had been considering how crazed she appeared. She stared unseeing, her lips moving again though no words escaped them as her hands trembled at her sides. Slit-like pupils now thin, they suddenly enlarged again before she swiftly lunged down at the dark-haired captain, her right arm swinging forward to strike him with her deadly claws. Her claws struck through a chest, effortlessly ripping all the way through flesh and bone while her demented face smiled sadistically in relief and enjoyment of the ruthless, violent act. Hearing a pained grunt, Jenova didn’t stop the laughter from bubbling out of her mouth until she noticed that it was malachite colored eyes staring back at her in pain, not crimson. Her amusement quickly morphed into that of horror at the realization of what she’d unintentionally done. Jerking her arm out of Sephiroth’s body, she staggered back as if she were the wounded one. Watching the blood splash freely out from the large, gaping wound, she shook her head in denial over and over again while she backed away.

“I told you, _Mother_ …I would rather…choose Death over you,” hoarsely murmured Sephiroth, blood trickling out from the corners of his mouth as he sank down to his knees, before he crumpled over onto the ground in a pool of his own blood.

  

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Jenova escaped as soon as Vincent’s remaining crew had started firing upon her, one even managing to hit her as she dived back into the water. Whether she lived or died from the impact was unknown since she had quickly disappeared, swallowed up by the endless sea.

Vincent’s shock had vanished as soon as Barret gripped him by the shoulders and shook him until he snapped out of his horrified daze. Once he was back in control of himself, Vincent picked up the wounded siren and hastily carried him away to be treated by their personal doctor. Thankfully, the doctor hadn’t been on deck when Jenova had attacked and killed several of his other men.

The remaining survivors of his crew kept a watchful eye out for Jenova while the others worked on deck to bitterly clean up the gruesome mess that Jenova had left behind. It was one thing to muck up feces or scrub away urine, but to toss body parts overboard and to scrub away the blood of their deceased crewmates was another thing entirely. It proved to be a disconcerting experience for most of them whether they’d had close bonds or not with the deceased. It also reminded them of their own fragile mortalities, of just how quickly their lives could be snuffed out.

Cid oversaw what needed to be done, quick to give direction when it was needed since their captain was understandably occupied elsewhere. Barret also stepped up when the blond first mate needed a break from the strain of leading the demoralized men. When any stirrings of a fight began to brew, Barret was the one to break it up before it became serious. Tensions were high as it was on the ship and he knew the best way to keep people relatively calm was to ease them somehow, whether it was by giving them his ear to listen or telling them a joke to make them laugh.

Said pirate captain kept himself holed up in his stateroom, keeping a worried eye on the unconscious male siren at all times. He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t eat, and he could barely function as it were. All Vincent could do was pace his stateroom as quietly as he could manage while keeping a watchful eye on the younger man. The doctor had worked on him as well as he could to repair the damage, but there was no guarantee that the siren would survive the grisly attack. A normal human wouldn’t have even survived such a serious injury; however, that didn’t mean Sephiroth was out of the hot water just yet. The only real good news was that Jenova had missed striking Sephiroth in the heart. If she had, then…then Sephiroth would have died from a blow meant specifically for Vincent.

Sephiroth had leaped down in time to protect Vincent from Jenova’s petty wrath. It was clear to him that she had meant to strike Vincent in the heart to kill him on the spot since she had viewed him as a threat in her quest to obtain Sephiroth again. Or perhaps she had sought Vincent’s death to punish Sephiroth for disappointing her. It was likely both reasons and it only made the pirate captain hate Jenova that much more.

Although it was true that many of the assassination attempts from others, and some suicide attempts made by him, had utterly failed, Vincent had always suspected that Jenova could kill him whenever she wanted to. She had chosen to end his misery in that horrific moment, only to unintentionally injure the younger man instead.

Worry, anger, and guilt ate away at the dark-haired captain as he paced back and forth, his severely exhausted body fueled mostly by his racing thoughts and his maddening emotions. As much as he was tempted to, he knew that he couldn’t sit at Sephiroth’s bedside or in a chair because he knew that he would fall asleep and he couldn’t risk doing _that_ right now. There was the possibility that Jenova would return and he wanted to be conscious for that, just in case. Not only that, but there was also the other possibility that Sephiroth might wake up needing his aid and he wanted to be there for him when he was needed.

Vincent stopped pacing for a moment to turn and stare at the other man, lying there looking deathly pale and frail on the older man’s bed. Even with the sheets carefully placed over his body, the indentations of the bandages could still be seen through them. He immediately regretted staring at said man for longer than a moment because it only served to breed even more guilt within him. Despite this, he still knew he deserved to stew in it, to suffer for it. He knew that he was the reason why this man was in the grim state that he was in now. Sephiroth wouldn’t be in this dire situation had Vincent actually acted instead of standing around like a brainless fool. Why had he just stood there like a gawking idiot when they had stopped fighting? Why hadn’t he just shot the fucking bitch and been done with it the moment she’d given him the opportunity to? He had failed to act, had let his emotions get the better of him and as a result, Sephiroth had paid the hefty price for it. There was no guarantee the siren would survive this and if he didn’t, then…then Vincent wouldn’t know what he would do. He had no idea what he would do, but hopefully it wouldn’t be something ludicrous like burying himself alive in a coffin six feet under to suffer every age alone and trapped. It had always been one of his worst fears, something that still tortured him in his nightmares even now.

Distraught by his upsetting thoughts, Vincent began to pace the room again, his eyes downcast. Truthfully, if Sephiroth didn’t make it, what would Vincent do? How could he go on living knowing that this alluring man was dead when it should have been him dead instead? Ah, yes…he knew what he would do if that happened. He would sail the seas again in search of Jenova, and when he found her, he would use her to run him through, to finally end him. And as he lay dying, he would shoot her dead, or at least die trying. It was—

“—You’re obsessing, _again_ ,” quietly said a hoarse voice that sounded weak to Vincent’s ears. Whipping his face up from the ground towards the direction of the bed, Vincent immediately noticed that Sephiroth was awake and appeared very much alive despite his weakened state. Beautiful, but tired green eyes gazed at the older man while a small, knowing smile graced his pale lips.

Vincent felt the hot pinpricks of unshed tears in the corners of his eyes, but desperately blinked them away. If he could spend several hours holding them at bay, then he could spend another few minutes without shedding them. He wasted no time in running over to the bed while nearly tripping in the process. Quickly pouring water into a glass from a pitcher on the bedside table, he then offered it to the siren after gingerly sitting down on the side of the bed. He kept his hand on the glass, supporting its weight as the other man quenched his thirst while making sure Sephiroth didn’t drink too much too quickly. When he was finished, Vincent set the mostly downed glass down on the bedside table for later.

“You look like…shit, Vincent. Have you not rested?” Pointed out Sephiroth as he attempted to rise but was gingerly eased back down by his shoulders with Vincent’s careful, yet shaky hands. Lack of food, drink, and rest was definitely taking his toll on him, yes, but his sheer happiness and relief at seeing the younger man awake, was affecting him much more.

Ignoring his own state, Vincent questioned, “How do you feel? The doctor wasn’t sure you would…”

“Did you spend this entire time obsessing over me?” Asked Sephiroth with a raised eyebrow. Slowly lifting an arm, though it seemed to tax him to do it, he cupped the side of the older man’s face, his thumb caressing a dry bottom lip.

Sliding his hand over Sephiroth’s, he held the other man’s hand against his face. He was tempted to turn his face and bury it in that hand. Gods, he knew he didn’t deserve this comfort, but he couldn’t resist basking in it nonetheless. Closing his eyes, he then murmured, “That word again. What do you mean by that?”

Sephiroth laughed lowly though it seemed to pain him to do so. “It’s what you do. Have always done…since I’ve come to know you. I’ve…watched you, for _years_. Pacing back and forth, like a trapped beast…for hours on end. Sometimes you mumble aloud to yourself, did you know that? That’s how I knew what you were thinking then…”

Crimson eyes shot open to regard Sephiroth in disbelief. “You’ve…been watching me for years? Then what…?”

The siren’s head rolled on the pillow so that he could stare out the window, probably noting how long he’d been unconscious just by the fact that the sun was already setting. His hand curled against the pirate’s face before he gently tugged it away, letting it drop beside him on the bed. “Truthfully…I hadn’t planned on approaching you. That day…I had decided on my fate…to not go through with Jenova’s plan. I had ever intended to…was planning on leaving, but then that foul human woman caught me in her nets. I am…still quite embarrassed by that, truth be told.”

Vincent almost smiled at that and especially at the light red hue dusting the other man’s pale cheeks. Despite his serpentine eyes and his ethereal beauty, he looked very human in this moment to Vincent. He felt the impulse to touch his face, but knew that if he did, his already fragile self-control would shatter into a million pieces. “Why were you watching me?”

The small smile on Sephiroth’s face dropped. “I wanted to see you, to learn more about you…since you are my father, Vincent. I should have told you, but…”

Vincent quickly fought to quell his rising anger, hoping it didn’t show on his face. He wasn’t about to allow himself to shout or berate an injured man, especially one that had nearly died to save his life. Perhaps when Sephiroth was completely healed and rested, he might, but for now, he would tread carefully. Even still, he doubted the anger he felt was even directed at Sephiroth. “But what?

Lolling his head back to look back at the other man, he revealed, “I truly wanted to save your life _and_ be free of her. Originally, I had accepted my fate of being a siren, the _only_ male siren, forever on the run from an insane siren Matriarch and her sirens. I believed that as long as she couldn’t find me, you would be safe from her. I didn’t want to involve you, but that day we met, face to face…I knew what I had to do. You seemed intent on keeping me with you, and with the Siren’s Moon looming near, I knew I had to make a choice. So, I did…”

“You chose to use me,” Stated Vincent coldly, though it had not been intentional on his part. Hearing his own words, which made Vincent flinch, and seeing the wounded expression on the younger man’s face, made him realize that he was screwing up badly here and was just making a bigger mess of things.

Sephiroth’s face appeared pained as if he was torn between laughing and crying at the same time. “Yes, and no. I intended to leave because…because I loved you. I meant to leave, but then you were there, close to me, and it was torturous to have you within my reach. You reacted to my allure, something all humans do, and it was then that…I knew you wouldn’t let me go. So, I had to. I had to save you. She was coming, I could sense it…and I knew what she would try to make me do.”

Feeling breathlessly stunned by that unexpected confession, Vincent felt his heart pounding hard in his chest. It was pathetic, but he couldn’t help latching onto those three sentimental words, past tense or not. Words he’d always wanted to hear from another person that actually meant them for once. But he couldn’t dwell on that now. He had questions, plenty of questions to ask and he knew his time was limited since the younger man was obviously taxing himself further by speaking. “This _Bargain_ you mentioned earlier. Does that play into it?”

Sephiroth sighed. “Yes…it does. If you recall, I asked you if you wanted me as a man or as a fish. You chose to have me as a man. That was the Bargain between you and me. One she cannot break no matter how hard she may try to. I only had to join with you once, but…I couldn’t stop after the first time. It was like a dream to have you, even if it wasn’t real. I couldn’t help being selfish…by indulging myself with you, more than once.”

“What do you mean…by _real_?” Questioned the crimson-eyed man. The experience with Sephiroth had been vividly real to Vincent, so he found the use of that word oddly placed here. Staring down at Sephiroth, he suddenly felt a spark of anger at himself for making this man explain himself and especially after such a harrowing ordeal. Why was he badgering him now? Sephiroth still looked dreadfully weak, looked like he was fighting just to remain conscious. Yes, Vincent wanted answers, _needed_ them, in fact, and had for many years, but surely, they could wait another day or so. Vincent himself wasn’t in great shape, either. He was a babbling wreck, he knew that. So why was he trying to push forward with this now?

“As I said, like most humans, you reacted to my allure…my siren’s spell, as some sailors call it. It’s just what naturally happens when your kind encounters one of us. Because of this occurrence, I knew the spell would end after the Siren’s Moon had ended. I would still be a man the morning after and you wouldn’t want…”

_I am staying here with him, if he permits me to, that is. Even if wants me to leave, I will not return with you now or ever again._

The end of that explanation prompted Vincent to recall these words Sephiroth had spoken to Jenova several hours ago. He was reminded of the loneliness that the younger man shouldered, a loneliness Vincent himself could easily relate to. Whether their relationship shifted into a platonic one or pushed on as lovers, Vincent knew he couldn’t turn him away. He didn’t know what Sephiroth expected of him and he didn’t know if he could meet those expectations. Although he’d slept with this man already, he wasn’t sure he could do that again even though part of him was still raring to have another go. But what Vincent did know for sure, was that he wanted him here with him indefinitely. The next question here was, could Sephiroth live without loving him in the way that he needed to?  

Eyes now shut, Sephiroth mumbled, “You look like hell, Vincent. Get some sleep. I will not expire without your constant vigilance. If she returns at all, it will be in _days_ , not hours.”

Of course, Sephiroth was absolutely right. Vincent knew that he needed sleep very badly and the more he deprived himself, the less clear he was thinking. He would take the younger man’s advice, but first, he would give this man some peace of mind. If Vincent were Sephiroth, he knew that he would want some kind of assurance; he’d want to know he was welcome here with him. But most of all, he’d want to know he still had a home here in spite of everything.

Rising up from the bed, he walked around to the other side and as he walked, he stripped the clothes from his body with practiced ease despite feeling worn to the bone. All the while, he felt eyes on him, making him shiver from the intensity of that stare and from the lingering desire that couldn’t be completely subdued by will alone. Crawling into the bed slowly, he sank onto his left side to face the younger man. He wasn’t at all surprised to see Sephiroth watching him curiously despite his eyelids drooping lower over his green eyes.

Vincent then quietly vowed, “I cannot claim to know what the future holds, but…I want you here with me, if that is what you choose. And if…if you want to go, I will let you go, Sephiroth.”

The words he’d wanted to say were unspoken, but they were still there, hiding in his already spoken promise. He barely knew Sephiroth, but he knew this feeling, knew that it was more. It wasn’t just infatuation, wasn’t just some siren spell cast over him. It _had_ to be more. He knew it was…because he’d felt something similar to this before. Whether it was platonic or more, he would find out in time.

“You don’t hate me?” Whispered Sephiroth, his eyelashes nearly kissing his pale cheeks as sleep threatened to take him once again.

Sephiroth’s question reminded Vincent of a child and it made him recall feeling something similar when he’d angered his parents. It was an irrational fear every child had at some point in life. It was natural for a child to crave his or her parent’s love and when that was threatened, the child feared losing it. Perhaps Jenova’s neglect during his childhood and her high expectations later on in his adult life, caused him to fear Vincent hating him since he seemed to crave his affections. In spite of his lack of upbringing and love, Sephiroth had eventually learned to love anyway and for whatever reason, had chosen his absentee father to fulfil that role. It was screwed up in a lot of ways, but at the same time, it was endearing to Vincent nevertheless. But really, who was he really to judge anyone? Vincent was a fucked-up person and he knew it.

The raven-haired man closed his eyes, clearly not trusting his own courage, Vincent then slurred, “I…could never…”

 

 ~*~*~*~*~*~


End file.
